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t  THEOLOrrr-Trtf  ********* 
I    nJ^ui^OGICAL  SEMINARY  f 

I  Princeton,  N,  j.      •     .     '% 

*^^^*^^«*^*i 


HISTORY 


OF   THE 


PROGRESS  AND  SUPPRESSION 


OF  THE 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN 


IN   THE 


SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 


BY 


THOMAS    McCRIE,  D.  U. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF  PUBLICATION, 

PAUL   T.   JONES,  PUBLISHINa  AGENT. 

1842. 


rrinted  by 

WILLIAM  J>.  MARTIEM. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 
PREFACE 5 


CHAPTER  I. 

REVIEW  OF  THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY  OF  SPAIN  BEFORE  THE  ERA 


OF  THE  REFORMATION.  ...-..- 

CHAPTER  n. 

OF    THE    STATE    OF    LITERATURE    IN    SPAIN    BEFORE  THE  ERA  OF    THE 
REFORMATION.  -  ---..-- 

CHAPTER  HI. 

OF  THE  INQUISITION,   AND    OTHER    OBSTACLES    TO    THE    REFORMATION 
IN  SPAIN.  ...--.-.. 


9 


46 


64 


CHAPTER  IV. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  REFORMED  DOCTRINE  INTO  SPAIN.  .  -  97 

CHAPTER  V. 

CAUSES   OF  THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMED  DOCTRINE  IN  SPAIN.  135 

CHAPTER  VI. 

PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION  IN  SPAIN.  ....  156 


4  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Page. 

SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  REFORMATION  IN  SPAIN.  -  -  -  179 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

PROTESTANT   EXILES  FROM  SPAIN. 256 

CHAPTER  IX. 

EFFECTS    WHICH    THE   SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  REFORMATION  PRODUCED 

ON  SPAIN. 276 

APPENDIX.  295 


PREFACE. 

The  following  work  is  a  sequel  to  that  which  I 
lately  published  on  the  Reformation  in  Italy,  and 
completes  what  I  intended  as  a  contribution  to 
the  history  of  that  memorable  revolution  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  which,  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  affected  all  the  nations  of  Europe. 

More  than  twenty  years  have  elapse  since  I 
inserted,  in  a  periodical  work,  a  short  account  of 
the  introduction  of  the  reformed  opinions  into 
Spain,  and  the  means  employed  to  extirpate 
them.  The  scanty  materials  from  which  that 
sketch  was  formed  have  gradually  increased  in 
the  course  of  subsequent  reading  and  research. 
My  earliest  authority  is  Reynaldo  Gonzalez  de 
Montes,  a  Protestant  refugee  from  Spain,  who 
in  1567  published  at  Heidelberg,  in  Latin,  a 
Detection  of  the  Arts  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition, 
interspersed  w^ith  anecdotes  of  his  countrymen 
who  had  embraced  the  Protestant  faith,  and  con- 
taining an  account  of  such  of  them  as  suffered 
at  Seville.  That  work  was  immediately  trans- 
lated into  English,  and  underwent  two  editions, 
to  the  last  of  which  is  subjoined  an  account  of 


PREFACE. 


Protestant  martyrs  at  Valladolid.  Another  con- 
temporary authority  is  Cypriano  de  Valera,  who 
left  Spain  for  the  sake  of  rehgion  about  the 
same  time  as  De  Montes,  and  has  given  various 
notices  respecting  his  Protestant  countrymen  in 
his  writings,  particularly  in  a  book  on  the  Pope 
and  the  Mass,  of  which  also  an  English  transla- 
tion was  published  during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 

These  early  works,  though  well  known  when 
they  first  made  their  appearance,  fell  into  obli- 
vion for  a  time,  together  with  the  interesting 
details  which  they  furnish.  As  a  proof  of  this 
it  is  only  necessary  to  mention  the  fact,  that  the 
learned  Mosheim  translated  the  meajrre  tract  of 
our  countryman  Dr.  Michael  Geddes,  entitled, 
The  Spanish  Protestant  Martyrology,  and  pub- 
lished it  in  Germany  as  the  best  account  of  that 
portion  of  ecclesiastical  history  with  which  he 
was  acquainted. 

Additional  light  has  been  lately  thrown  on 
the  fate  or  Protestantism  in  Spain  by  the  Criti- 
cal History  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  compiled 
by  Don  Juan  Antonio  Llorente,  formerly  secre- 
tary to  the  Inquisition  at  Madrid.  Though  con- 
fusedly written,  that  work  is  very  valuable,  both 
on  account  of  the  new  facts  which  the  official 
situation  of  the  author  enabled  him  to  brine:  for- 
ward,  and  also  because  it  verifies,  in  all  the  lead- 
ing features,  the  picture  of  that  odious  tribunal 


PREFACE. 


drawn  by  De  Monies  and  other  writers,  whose 
representations  were  exposed  to  suspicion  on 
account  of  their  presumed  want  of  information, 
and  the  prejudices  which,  as  Protestants,  they 
were  supposed  to  entertain.  Llorente  was  in 
possession  of  documents  from  which  I  might 
have  derived  great  advantage;  and  it  certainly 
reflects  little  honour  on  Protestants,  and  espe- 
cially British  Protestants,  that  he  received  no 
encouragement  to  execute  the  proposal  which 
he  made,  to  publish  at  large  the  trials  of  those 
who  suffered  for  the  reformed  religion  in  his 
native  country. 

The  other  sources  from  which  I  have  drawn 
my  information,  including  many  valuable  Spanish 
books  lately  added  to  the  Advocates  Library, 
will  appear  in  the  course  of  the  work  itself. 

My  acknowledgments  are  due  to  Dr.  Fried- 
rich  Bialloblotzky,  who  kindly  furnished  me, 
from  the  University  Library  of  Gottingen,  with 
copious  extracts  from  the  dissertation  of  Biisch- 
ing,  De  Vestigiis  Lutheranismi  in  Hispania,  a 
book  which  I  had  long  sought  in  vain  to  procure. 
For  the  use  of  a  copy  of  De  Valera's  Dos  Tra- 
tados,  del  Papa  y  de  la  Missa^  now  become  very 
rare,  as  well  as  of  other  Spanish  books,  I  am 
indebted  to  the  politeness  of  Samuel  R.  Block, 
Esquire,  London. 

The  general  prevalence,  both  among  Span- 


8  PREFACE. 

iards  and  others,  of  the  mistaken  notion  that 
the  Spanish  Church  was  at  an  early  period  de- 
pendent on  the  See  of  Rome,  has  induced  me  to 
enter  into  minuter  details  in  the  preliminary  part 
of  this  work  than  I  should  otherwise  have  thou2;ht 
necessary. 

Edinburgh,  23d  October,  1829. 


HISTORY 


OF    THE 


REFORMATION  IN   SPAIN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

REVIEW    OF    THE   ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY    OF    SPAIN    BEFORE  THE 
ERA  OF    THE    REFORMATION. 

Erroneous  opinions  as  to  their  early  history,  origi- 
nating in  vanity,  and  fostered  by  ignorance  and  cre- 
duUty,  have  been  common  among  almost  every  peo- 
ple. These  are  often  harmless;  and  while  they  afford 
matter  of  good-hmnoured  raillery  to  foreigners,  excite 
the  more  inquisitive  and  liberal-minded  among  them- 
selves to  exert  their  talents  in  separating  truth  from 
fable,  by  patient  research,  and  impartial  discrimina- 
tion. But  they  are  sometimes  of  a  very  different  cha- 
racter, and  have  been  productive  of  the  worst  conse- 
quences. They  have  been  the  means  of  entailing  po- 
litical and  spiritual  bondage  on  a  people,  of  rearing 
insurmountable  obstacles  in  the  Avay  of  their  improve- 
ment, of  propagating  feelings  no  less  hostile  to  their  do- 
mestic comfort  than  to  their  national  tranquillity,  and 
of  making  them  at  once  a  curse  to  themselves  and  a 
scourge  to  all  around  them. 

If  the  natives  of  Spain  have  not  advanced  those  ex- 
travagant pretensions  to  high  antiquity  which  have 
made  the  inhabitants  of  some  other  countries  ridicu- 
lous, they  have  unhappily  fallen  under  the  influence 
of  national  prejudices  equally  destitute  of  truth,  and 
far  more  pernicious  in  their  tendency.  Every  true 
Spaniard  is  disposed  to  boast  of  the  purity  of  his 

2 


10  HISTORY    OF    THE 

blood,  or,  ill  the  cstablislicd  language  of  the  country, 
that  he  is  "an  Old  Christian,  free  from  all  stain  of  bad 
descent."  The  meanest  peasant  or  artizari  in  Spain 
looks  upon  it  as  a  degradation  to  have  in  his  veins 
the  least  mixture  of  Jewish  or  Moorish  blood,  though 
transmitted  by  the  remotest  of  his  known  ancestors,  in 
the  male  or  female  line.  To  have  descended  from 
that  race,  "of  which,  as  concerning  the  flesh,  Christ 
came,"  or  from  Christians  who  had  incurred  the  cen- 
sure of  a  tribunal  wiiose  motto  is  the  reverse  of  his 
who  "came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives  but  to  save 
them,"  is  regarded  as  a  greater  disgrace  than  to  have 
sprung  from  savages  and  pagans,  or  from  those  who 
had  incurred  the  last  sentence  of  justice  for  the  most 
unnatural  and  horrid  crimes.  "I  verily  believe," 
says  a  modern  Spanish  writer  who  sometimes  smiles 
through  tears  at  the  prejudices  of  his  countrymen, 
"'that  were  St.  Peter  a  Spaniard,  he  would  either  de- 
ny admittance  into  heaven  to  people  of  tainted  blood, 
or  send  them  into  a  corner,  where  they  might  not  of- 
fend the  eyes  of  the  Old  Christian."'^  We  might  go 
further,  and  say  that  if  a  Spaniard  had  the  keys  of 
heaven  in  his  keeping,  St.  Peter,  and  all  the  apostles 
with  him,  would  be  "removed  into  a  corner."  It  is 
easy  to  conceive  what  misery  must  have  been  felt  by 
persons  and  families  who  have  incurred  this  involun- 
tary infamy  in  their  own  estimation,  or  in  that  of  their 
neighbours;  and  what  bitter  and  rancorous  feelings 
must  have  been  generated  in  the  hearts  of  individuals 
and  races  of  men  living  together  or  contiguously,  both 
in  a  state  of  peace  and  of  warfare. 

But  when  the  records  of  antiquity  are  consulted, 
the  truth  turns  out  to  be,  that  in  no  other  country  of 
Europe  has  there  been  such  an  intermixture  of  races 
as  in  Sjiain — Iberian,  Celtic,  Carthaginian,  Roman, 
Greek,  Gothic,  Jewish,  Saracennic,  Syrian,  Arabian, 
and  Moorish.  With  none  are  the  Spaniards  more 
anxious  to  disclaim  all  kindred  than  with  Jews  and 
Moors.  Yet  anciently  their  Christian  kings  did  not 
scruple  to  form  alliances  with  the  Moorish  sovereigns 

*  Letters  from  Spain,  by  Lcucadio  Doblado,  p.  30. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  11 

of  Grenada,  to  appear  at  their  tournaments,  and  even 
to  fight  under  their  banners.  Down  to  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century,  the  Spanish  poets  and  roman- 
cers celebrated  the  chivalry  of  "  the  Knights  of  Gre- 
nada, gentlemen  though  Moors.'^*  It  was  no  un- 
common occurrence  for  the  Christians  in  Spain  to  con- 
nect themselves  by  marriage  with  Jews  and  Moors ; 
and  the  pedigree  of  many  of  the  grandees  and  titled 
nobility  has  been  traced  up  to  these  "cankered  branch- 
es" by  the  Tizon  de  Espana,  or  Brand  of  Spain , 
a  book,  which  neither  the  influence  of  the  govern- 
ment, nor  the  terror  of  the  Inquisition,  has  been  able 
completely  to  suppress.!  Nor  is  greater  credit  due 
to  the  opinion  whicli  has  long  been  prevalent  in  the 
Peninsula,  that  its  inhabitants  have  uniformly  kept 
themselves  free  from  all  stain  of  heretical  pravity, 
and  preserved  the  purity  of  the  faith  inviolate  since 
their  first  reception  of  Christianity. 

The  ancient  state  of  the  church  in  Spain  is  but  lit- 
tle known.     Modern  writers  of  that  nation  have  been 
careful  to  conceal  or  to  pass  lightly  over  those  spots 
of  its  history  which  are  calculated  to  wound  the  feel- 
ings  or   abate   the   prejudices  of  their  countrymen. 
Shut  out  from  access  to  original  documents,  or  averse 
to  the  toil  of  investigating  them,  foreigners  have  ge- 
nerally contented  themselves  with  the   information 
which  common  books  supply.     And  knowing  that 
the  Spaniards  have  signalized  their  zeal  for  the  See  of 
Rome  and  the  catholic  faith  during  the  three  last  cen- 
turies, the  public  as  if  by  a  general  agreement,  have 
come  to  the  hasty  conclusion  that  this  was  the  fact 
from  the  beginning.     To  correct  such  mistakes,  and 
to  furnish  materials  for  an  accurate  judgment,  it  may 
be  proper  to  take  a  more  extensive  view  of  the  state 
of  religion  in  Spain    before    the  Reformation,  than 
would  otherwise  have  been  necessary  to  our  under- 
taking. 

*  Sismondi,  Hist,  of  the  Literature  of  the  South,  vol.i.  99.  iii.  113, 
214. 

t  Llorente,  Ilist.  Crit.  de  I'lnquisition,  torn.  i.  pref,  p.  xxfi.  Dob- 
lado's  Letters,  30,  31. 


12  HISTORY    OF    THE 

The  ecclesiastical  history  of  Spain  during  the  three 
first  centuries  may  be  comprised  in  two  facts — that 
the  Christian  rehi^ion  was  early  introduced  into  that 
country:  and  that  churches  were  erected  in  various 
parts  of  it,  notwithstanding  the  persecution  to  which 
they  were  exposed  at  intervals.  All  beside  this  is 
fable  or  conjecture.  That  the  gospel  w^as  first  preach- 
ed to  their  ancestors  by  St.  James,  the  son  of  Zebedee, 
is  an  opinion  which  has  been  long  so  popular  among 
the  Spaniards,  and  so  identified  whh  the  national  faith, 
that  such  of  their  writers  as  were  most  convinced  of 
the  unsound  foundation  on  which  it  rests  have  been 
forced  to  join  in  bearing  testimony  to  its  truth.  The 
ingenuity  of  the  warm  partizans  of  the  popedom  has 
been  put  to  the  stretch  in  managing  the  obstinate  fond- 
ness with  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  Peninsula  have 
clung  to  a  prepossession  so  hazardous  to  the  claims 
of  St.  Peter  and  of  Rome.  They  have  alternately  ex- 
posed the  futility  of  the  argument  produced  in  its  sup- 
port, and  granted  that  it  is  to  be  received  as  a  proba- 
ble opinion  resting  on  tradition.  At  one  time  they 
have  urged  that  the  early  martyrdom  of  the  apostle 
precludes  the  idea  of  such  an  expedition;  and  at  ano- 
ther time  they  have  tendered  their  aid  to  relieve  the 
Spaniards  from  this  embarrassment,  and  to  "elude 
the  objection,"  by  suggesting,  with  true  Italian  dex- 
terity, that  the  Spirit  might  have  carried  the  apostle 
from  Palestine  to  Spain,  and  after  he  had  performed 
his  task,  conveyed  him  back  with  such  celerity  that 
he  was  in  time  to  receive  the  martyr's  crown  at  Jeru- 
salem.* By  such  artful  managements,  they  succeed- 
ed at  last  in  settling  the  dispute,  after  the  follow- 
ing manner;  that  agreeably  to  the  concurring  voice 
of  antiquity,  the  seven  first  bishops  of  Spain  were  or- 
dained by  St.  Peter,  and  sent  by  him  into  the  Pcnin- 

*  "  Ncquc  illud  silco,  (says  Cennius)  quod  Aposlolls  veredi  non  crant 
opus,  ut  tcrrir  aiiibituin  ciicuniircnt.  Spirilus  cniin  Domini,  a  quo 
l'liilip[)\iin  liii.-^sc  raptuiu  constat  post  baplizutum  l^^unuclium,  ctianisi 
Jacobuni  rapuisse  in  Ilispaniain  non  dicatur,  non  cnim  omnia  scripta 
suntjoltjcetioncm  istam  cludit."  In  a  manner  somewhat  similar  has 
tlic  bcntficcd  I'rcsbytcr  of  tlic  Vatican  contrived  to  convey  the  dead 
body  ot'thc  Apostle  Irom  Jerusalem  to  Spain.  (Cajetani  Cenni  de  Anti- 
quitaleEcclcsin;  Ilispana'Dissertationes,tom.  i.  p.  35,  36.  Romo',  1711.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  '     13 

siila:  but  that  as  it  is  probable,  they,  had  been  con- 
verted to  the  Christian  faith  by  St.  James,  who  des- 
patched them  to  Rome  to  receive  holy  orders  from 
the  prince  of  the  apostles  ;  from  which  the  inference 
is,  that  St.  James  was  the  first  who  preached  the  Gos- 
pel to  the  Spaniards,  but  St.  Peter  was  the  founder  of 
the  Church  of  Spain.*  Leaving  such  fabulous  ac- 
counts, which  serve  to  no  other  purpose  than  to  illus- 
trate human  credulity,  and  the  ease  with  which  it  is 
wrought  upon  by  artifice  and  cunning  we  proceed  to 
the  period  of  authentic  history. 

The  facts  which  we  have  to  bring  forward  may  be 
arranged  under  three  heads: — the  doctrine  of  the  an- 
cient church  of  Spain ;  her  government ;  and  her  wor- 
ship. 

I.  Sentiments  which  by  common  consent  have  been 
regarded  as  heretical,  without  as  well  as  within  the 
pale  of  that  church  which  arrogates  to  herself  the 
title  of  catholic,  sprang  up  repeatedly  in  Spain,  and 
in  some  instances  overran  the  whole  country.  In 
the  fourth  century,  Priscillian,  a  native  of  Gallicia, 
founded  a  new  sect,  which  united  the  tenets  of  the 
Manichseans  and  Gnostics.  It  made  many  converts, 
including  persons  of  the  episcopal  order,  and  subsisted 

*  Ibid.  Diss.  i.  cap.  2.  A  curious  specimen  of  the  managements 
referred  to  in  the  text  is  to  be  seen  in  the  alterations  made  on  the  Ro- 
man Calendar.  Cardinal  Quignoni  obtained  the  following  insertion 
in  the  Rubric,  referring  to  St.  James  the  elder :  "  He  went  to  Spain, 
and  preached  the  Gospel  there,  according  to  the  authority  of  St.  Isi- 
dore." (Breviarum  Paul  III.)  A  change  more  agreeable  to  the 
Spaniards  was  afterwards  made:  "Having  travelled  over  Spain,  and 
preached  the  Gospel  there,  he  returned  to  Jerusalem."  (Brev.Pii  V.) 
This  having  given  offence  to  Cardinal  Baronius  and  others  at  Rome, 
the  following  was  substituted:  "That  he  visited  Spain  and  made  some 
disciples  there,  is  the  tradition  of  the  churches  of  that  province." 
(Brev.  Clementis  VIII.)  If  the  former  mode  of  expression  gave 
great  offence  at  Rome,  this  last  gave  still  greater  in  Spain.  The 
whole  kingdom  was  thrown  into  a  ferment;  and  letters  and  ambassa- 
dors were  despatched  by  his  Catholic  Majesty  to  the  Pope,  exclaiming 
against  the  indignity  done  to  the  Spanish  nation.  At  last  the  follow- 
ing form  was  agreed  upon,  which  continues  to  stand  in  the  Calen- 
dar ;  "  Having  gone  to  Spain,  he  made  some  converts  to  Christ,  seven 
of  wliom  being  ordained  by  St.  Peter  were  sent  to  Spain  as  its  first 
bishops."     (Brev.  Urbani  VIII.) 


14  HISTORY    OF    THE 

in  Spain  for  two  hundred  years.*  When  they  boast 
of  the  pure  blood  of  the  Goths,  the  Spaniards  appear 
to  forget  tliat  their  Gothic  ancestors  Avere  Arians,  and 
that  Arianism  was  the  prevaihng  and  estabhshed 
creed  of  the  country  for  nearly  two  centuries.!  Nor 
did  Spain  long  preserve  her  faith  uncontaminated, 
after  she  had  adopted  the  common  doctrine  under 
Reccared,  who  reigned  in  the  close  of  the  sixth  cen- 
tury. To  pass  by  the  spread  of  Nestorianism  and 
some  tenets  of  less  note^J  she  gave  birth  in  the  eighth 
century,  to  the  heresy  called  the  adoptionarian,  be- 
cause its  disciples  held  that  Christ  is  the  adopted  Son 
of  God.  This  opinion  was  broached  by  Elipand,  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Spanish 
church ;  it  was  vigorously  defended  by  Felix,  bishop 
of  Urgel,  a  prelate  of  great  ability;  and  maintained 
itself  for  a  considerable  time,  in  spite  of  the  decisions 
of  several  councils,  supported  by  the  learning  of  Alcuin 
and  the  authority  of  Charlemagne. § 

Nor  were  there  wanting  in  the  early  ages  Spaniards 
who  held  some  of  the  leading  opinions  afterwards 
avowed  by  the  protestant  reformers.  Claude,  bishop 
of  Turin,  who  flourished  in  the  ninth  century,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  by  his  valuable  labours  in  the  illus- 
tration of  the  Scriptures,  was  a  native  of  Spain.  His  de- 
cided condemnation  of  the  worship  of  images,  and  of 
the  veneration  paid  to  the  relics  and  sepulchres  of  the 
saints,  together  with  his  resistance  to  the  ecclesiastical 

*  Sulpitlus  Scvcrup,  Hist.  Sacra,  lib.  ii.  c.  60.  Nicol.  Antonius, 
Bihliothcca  Ilispana  Vctu?,  curantc  Franc.  Perez  Baycrio,  torn.  i. 
p.  168 — 172.     Ccnni  do  Antiq.  Eccl.  Hisp.  Diss.  torn.  i.  p.  212. 

t  Grcgor.  de  Turon.  Hist.  Franc,  lib.  viii.  cap.  46.  Nic.  Antonius, 
ut  supra,  p.  294.     Cenni  Diss.  iii.  cap.  1  and  2. 

X  "Xcquc  hi  tantum  crrores  in  IJispaniis  pcrvagabantur,  sed  qnic- 
quid  novffi  heercsis  cmcrgebat,  in  easdcm  admittebatur."  (Cenni,  j. 
213.) 

§  Rodri^nicz  dc  Castro,  Bibliothcca  Espanola,  torn.  ii.  p.  406 — 411. 
Nic.  Antonius,  ut  supra,  p.  440 — 446.  Mosheim  supposed  Felix  to 
be  a  French  bishop,  and  placed  his  diocese  in  Septhnania.  (Eccl. 
Hist.  cent.  viii.  part.  ii.  chap.  v.  sect.  3.)  Septi mania  was  an  ancient 
province  ofCallia  Narbonncnsis,  now  called  Lan^ucdoc;  but  Urgel  is 
a  city  of  Catalonia,  and  the  Counts  of  Urgel  made  no  small  figure  in 
the  i»redatory  warfare  of  the  middle  ages.  (Vaisette,  Hist.  Uen.  de 
Langucdoc,  torn.  iii.  p.  108,  145.  Prcuves,  p.  206.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  15 

authority  which  imposed  these  practices,  has  exposed 
the  memory  of  this  pious  and  learned  divine  to  the 
deadly  hatred  of  all  the  devotees  of  superstition  and 
spiritual  despotism.*  In  support  of  his  principal  tenet, 
Claude  could  plead  the  authority  of  one  of  the  most 
venerable  councils  of  his  native  church,  which  or- 
ordained  that  there  should  be  no  pictures  in  churches, 
and  that  nothing  should  be  painted  on  the  walls  which 
might  be  worshipped  or  adored.t 

Galindo  Prudentio,  bishop  of  Troyes,  was  a  coun- 
tryman and  contemporary  of  Claude.     His  learning 
was  superior  to  that  of  the  age  in  Avhich  he  lived ;  and 
the  comparative  purity  of  his  style  bears  witness  to 
his  familiarity  with  the  writings  of  the  aficient  classics. 
Having  fixed  his  residence  in  France,  he  enjoyed  the 
confidence  of  Charlemagne,  who  employed  him  in 
visiting  and  reforming  the  monasteries.     In  the  pre- 
destinarian   controversy  which   divided   the   French 
clergy  of  that  time,  he  took  part  with  Goteschalcus 
against  Hincmar,  archbishop  of  Rheims,  and  the  noted 
schoolman,  Joannes  Scotus,  surnamed  Erigena.    The 
sentiments  which  Prudentio  held  on  that  subject  bear 
a  striking  resemblance  to  those  which  the  church  of 
Rome   has  since  anathematized  in  the  writings  of 
Luther  and  Calvin. ± 

11.  The  Spanish  church,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century,  acknowledged  no  other  officers  than 

*  Nicolas  Antonio  reckons  it  necessary  to  make  a  formal  apology 
for  giving  Claude  a  place  in  his  general  biograpliy  of  Spanish  wri- 
tcrs,  and  calls  him  "pudendum  gentinostrse  plusquam  celebrandum, 
hominis  HispanI  nomen."  (Bibl.  Hisp.  Vet.  torn.  i.  p.  458.)  An  ex- 
act  and  full  account  of  Claude's  works,  both  printed  and  in  manu- 
script,  is  given  by  Alb.  Fabricius,  in  his  Bibliothcca  Mediae  etInfimEe 
Aetatis,  torn.  i.  p.  388. 

t  *'  Placuit  picturas  in  Ecclesia  esse  non  debere,  ne  quod  colitur 
vel  adoratur,  in  parietibus  pingatur."  (Concil.  lUiberit.  can.  xxxvi. 
anno  305.) 

t  Duchesne,  Hist.  Francor.  Script,  tom.  iii.  p.  212.  Barthii  Adver- 
saria, lib.  xviii.  cap.  11,  lib.  xliv.  cap.  19.  The  controversial  vi^orks  of 
Galindus  Prudentius  remained  in  MS.  until  some  of  them  were  pub- 
lished,  during  the  Janscnian  dispute,  by  Gilbert  Mauguin,  in  a  collec- 
tion of  curious  and  valuable  tracts,  under  the  title  :  Veteruni  Aucto- 
rum,  qui  nono  seculo  de  praedestinatione  et  gratia  scripserunt,  Opera 
et  Fragmenta,  2  tom.  Paris,  1650;  a  work  less  known  by  divines 
than  it  ought  to  be. 


16  HISTORY    OF    THE 

bishops,  presbyters,  and  deacons.*  She  was  equally 
a  stranger  to  the  superior  orders  of  metropohtans  and 
archbishops,  and  to  tlic  inferior  orders  of  sub-deacons 
and  lectors.  Iler  discipline  was  at  that  time  charac- 
terized by  great  strictness  and  even  rigour,  of  which 
there  was  a  palpable  relaxation  when  the  government 
of  the  church  came  to  be  formed  upon  the  model  of 
the  empire,  after  Constantine  had  embraced  Christi- 
anity.! This  change  was,  however,  introduced  more 
slowly  into  Spain  than  into  some  other  countries. 
The  church  of  Africa  was  careful  to  guard  the  parity 
of  episcopal  power  against  the  encroachments  of  the 
metropolitans;  and  the  Spanish  bishops,  who  appear 
from  an  early  period  to  have  paid  great  deference  to 
her  maxims  and  practices,  continued  for  a  considera- 
ble time  to  evince  the  same  jealousy. J  To  the  su- 
premacy of  the  bishops  of  Rome  the  ancient  church 
of  Spain  was  a  stranger,  and  there  is  no  good  evi- 
dence that  she  acknowledged,  during  the  eight  first 
centuries,  their  right  to  interfere  authoritatively  in  her 
internal  affairs. 

The  titles  of  pope  or  father,  apostolical  bishop,  and 
bishop  of  the  apostolic  see,  were  at  first  given  pro- 
miscuously to  all  who  were  invested  with  the  episco- 
pal office.  §  After  they  came  to  be  used  in  a  more 
restricted  sense,  they  were  still  applied  to  a  number 
in  common.  II     The  bishops  of  Rome  early  acquired 

*  Concil.  Illibcrit.  can.  18,  19;  anno  305. 

tCcnni,  i.  G'J  ;  conf.  142—141. 

t  "  Ut  primtc  scdis  Episcopus  non  appcllclur  princeps  sacerdotum, 
nut  suminns  paccrdos,  aut  aliquid  Iitijusmodi,  scd  tanturn  prima?  scdis 
Episcopus."  (Cod.  African,  can.  3:).)  To  this  agrees  the  languan-c  of 
the  fathers  of  Toledo:  "Statnimus,  ut  frater,  ct  cocpiscopus  nostcr, 
Montanus,  qui  in  Mctropoli  est,"  &c.    (Concil.  Tolct.  II.  can.  5.) 

§  Thoinassinus,  De  Bcncfic.  part.  i.  lib.  i.  cap.  4.  Pope  Cyprian, 
pope  AufTuslinc,  pope  Alipius,  pope  Athanasius,  &.c.  arc  expressions 
of  frequent  recurrence  in  the  writing's  of  the  fathers.  Ccnni,  unable 
to  deny  this  fact,  has  recourse  to  the  desperate  shift,  that  those  who 
gave  this  title  to  a  bishop  meant  to  say,  that  his  merits  were  such  as 
to  entitle  him  to  be  advanced  to  the  dignity  of  sni>reme  pontiff".  (De 
Antiq.  Eccl.  Ilisp.  ii.  53.) 

II  The  names  of  K'xh-.KiKU  9§iV5/,  and  otKUfxivu  S^:vzi,  catholic  thrones, 
and  ecumenical  thrones,  were  given,  in  the  eighth  century,  to  the 
Kces  of  Rome,  Constantinople,  Alexandria,  Antioch,  and  Jerusalem. 
(Thcophanes,  npud  Salniasii  Apparat.  dc  Primatu,  p.  278.) 


REFORMATION    IN     SPAIN. 


17 


high  consideration  among  their  brethren,  fonnded  on 
the  dignity  of  the  city  in  which  they  had  their  resi- 
dence, the  number  of  the  clergy  over  whom  they  pre- 
sided, and  the  superior  sanctity  of  hfe  by  which  some  of 
their  hue  had  been  distinguished;  to  which  must  be 
added  the  opinion,  which  soon  became  general,  that 
they  were  the  successors  of  St.  Peter.  In  matters  which 
concerned  religion  in  general,  or  in  difficult  questions 
relating  to  internal  managements,  it  was  a  common 
practice  to  ask  the  advice  of  foreign  and  even  trans- 
marine churches.     On  these  occasions  the  bishops  of 
Rome  were  consuUed,  but  not  to  the  exclusion  of 
others.     The  African  bishops,  in  a  council  held  at 
Carthage,  agreed  to  take  the  advice  of  Siricius,  bishop 
of  Rome,  and  Simplician,  bishop  of  Milan,  on  the 
affair  of  the  Donatists;  and  in  a  subsequent  council, 
they  agreed  to  consult  Anastasius  and  Venerius,  who 
at  that  time  filled  the  same  sees,  on  the  controversy- 
respecting  the  validity  of  the  baptism  of  heretics.* 
With  this  the  practice  of  the  Spanish  church  agreed.t 
Indeed,  the  bishops  of  Rome,  in  those  days,  disclaim- 
ed the  pretensions  which  they  afterwards  put  forth 
with  such   arrogance.     Gregory  the   Great   himself, 
when  in  danger   of  being   eclipsed  by  his   eastern 
rival,  acknowledged  this  in  the  memorable  words, 
which   have  so  much   annoyed   his   successors   and 
their  apologists.     Speaking  of  the  title  of  universal 
patriarch,  which  the  bishop  of  Constantinople  had  as- 
sumed, he  says : — "  Far  from  the  hearts  of  Christians 
be  this  name  of  blasphemy,  which  takes  away  the 
honours  of  the  whole  priesthood,  while  it  is  madly 
arrogated  by  one ! — None  of  my  predecessors  would 
ever  consent  to  use  this  profane  word,  because  if  one 
patriarch  is  called  universal,  the  rest  are  deprived  of 
the  name  of  patriarchs. "f 

But   there    is  positive  evidence   that  the  ancient 
church  of  Spain  maintained  its   independence,  and 

*  Salmasii  Apparatus  ad  Libros  de  Primatu  Papse,  p.  277.  Cenni, 
i.  159. 

t  Concil.  Tolet.  i.  sent,  definit.  Constant.  Annot.  in  Epist.  2.  In- 
nocent. 

X  Gregorii  Epp.  32,  36. 


IS  HISTORY    OF    THE 

guarded  against  the  interference  of  the  Roman  See,  or 
any  otlier  foreign  autliority.  Wliatever  judgment  we 
form  concerning  the  disputed  canon  of  the  council  of 
Sardis,  as  to  references  to  the  bishop  of  Rome,*  it  is 
certain  that  an  African  council,  which  met  at  JNIela 
in  the  year  416,  decreed  that  if  any  of  the  clergy  liad 
a  dispute  with  his  bishop,  he  might  bring  it  before  the 
neighbouring  bishops ;  but  if  he  thought  proper  not  to 
rest  in  tlieir  decision,  it  should  be  unlawful  for  him  to 
make  any  appeal  except  to  an  African  council,  or  to 
the  primates  of  the  African  churches.t  In  accordance 
with  the  spirit  of  this  canon,  with  some  variation  in 
particulars,  the  ninth  council  of  Toledo,  in  the  year 
655,  determined  that  appeals  should  lie  from  a  bishop 
to  a  metropolitan,  and  from  a  metropolitan  to  the 
royal  audience;  a  regulation  which  was  confirmed 
by  a  subsequent  council  held  in  the  same  city.J  In 
the  fifth  and  sixth  centuries  Arianism  was  predomi- 
nant in  Spain.  During  that  period  the  bishops  who 
adhered  to  the  orthodox  faith  being  few  in  number, 
discountenanced  by  the  royal  authority,  and  rarely 
allowed  to  assemble  in  provincial  councils,  were  na- 
turally induced  to  turn  their  eyes  to  Rome  for  coun- 
sel and  support ;  while  the  popes  laid  hold  of  the  op- 
portunity which  the  circumstances  afforded  them  to 
extend  their  influence  over  that  country,  by  holding 
correspondence  with  the  dissenthig  clergy,  and  con- 
ferring on  some  of  them  the  title  of  apostolical  vicars.§ 
But,  strange  as  the  assertion  may  appear  to  some,  this 
intercourse  ceased  as  soon  as  Spain  embraced  the 
catholic  faith. 

Spain  is  always  spoken  of  as  a  catholic  country 
from  the  time  that  she  renounced  Arianism  under 
Reccared;  and  if  we  are  to  believe  some  of  her  wri- 

^  •  Concil.  Sard.  a.  347,  can.  3—5.  Mosheim,  Cent.  iv.  part.  ii.  chap. 
ii.  ()  6.     Dupin  De  Anliq.  Discip.  diss.  ii.  chap.  i.  §  3. 

+  Concil.  iMillevit,  ii.  chap.  22. 

I  Concil.  Tolet.  ix.  capit.  i.;  xiii.  capit.  12  :  Harduiini.  Collect,  torn, 
iii.  coll.  973.  1746. 

§  Concil.  Bracarcnsc,  i.  passim.  Ccnni,  i.  194.  200,  214.  It  is  to 
be  observed  that  in  most  of  these  instances  we  liave  not  the  letters  of 
the  Spanisii  bishops,  but  only  those  olthe  popes. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  19 

ters,  her  monarchs  obtained,  at  that  early  period,  the 
title  of  Catholic  kings,  which  they  retain  to  this  day, 
as  expressive  of  their  devotion  to  the  faith  and  au- 
thority of  the  Roman  see.     But  this  is  a  glaring  mis- 
take, originating  in,  or  concealed  by  the  equivocal 
use  of  a  word  which  was  anciently  understood  in  a 
sense  very  different  from  its  modern  acceptation.    It 
was  by  adopting  the  common  doctrine  received  by 
the  church  at  large,  in  opposition  to  the  Arian  and 
other  errors  condemned  by  the  first  ecumenical  or  uni- 
versal councils,  that  Spain  became  catholic,  and  that 
her  kings,  bishops,  and  people,  obtained  this  designa- 
tion, and  not  by  conforming  to  the  rites  of  the  church 
of  Rome,  or  owning  the  supremacy  of  its  pontiffs. 
Ecclesiastical  affairs  were  managed  in  Spain  without 
any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  See  of  Rome,  or 
any  reference  to  it,  during  the  whole  of  the  century 
which  elapsed  after  the  suppressiorj  of  Arianism.    This 
is  so  undeniable,  that  those  advocates  of  the  pontifi- 
cal authority  who  have  examined  the  documents  of 
that  age,  have  been  forced  to  admit  the  fact,  and  en- 
deavour to  account  for  it  by  saying,  that  such  inter- 
ference and  reference  was  unnecessary  during  a  peace- 
ful state  of  the  church;  a  concession  which  goes  far  to 
invalidate  the  whole  of  their  claims.*     The  pall  sent 
from  Rome  to  Leander,  bishop  of  Seville,  forms  no  ex- 
ception to  the  remark  now  made ;  for,  not  to  mention 
that  it  was  never  received,  it  was  not  intended  to  confer 
any  prerogative  upon  him,  but  merely  as  a  testimony 
to  his  sanctity,  and  a  mark  of  personal  esteem  from 
pope  Gregory  who  had  contracted  a  friendship  with 
him  when  they  met  at  Constantinople.    It  was  of  the 
nature  of  a  badge  of  honour  conferred  by  a  prince  on 
a  deserving  individual  belonging  to  another  kingdom.! 
There  is  one  piece  of  history  which  throws  great 
light  on  the  state  of  the  Spanish  church  during  the 
seventh  century,  and  which  I  shall  relate  at  some 
length,  as  it  has  been  either  passed  over  or  very  par- 
tially brought  forward  by  later  historians.    The  sixth 
ecumenical  council,  held  at  Constantinople  in  the  year 

*  Cenni,  ii.  67.  69. 154,  155.  t  Ibid.  p.  211—230. 


20  HISTORY    OF    THE 

680,  condemned  the  heresy  of  the  MonotheUtes,  or 
those  who,  though  they  allowed  that  Christ  had  two 
natures,  ascribed  to  him  but  one  will  and  one  opera- 
tion. In  6S3,  Leo  II.,  bishop  of  Rome,  sent  the  acts 
of  that  council,  which  he  had  received  from  Constan- 
tinople, to  Spain,  requesting  the  bishops  to  give  them 
their  sanction,  and  to  take  measures  for  having  them 
circulated  through  their  churches.  As  a  council  had 
been  held  immediately  before  the  arrival  of  the  papal 
deputation,  and  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  prevented  the 
re-assembling  of  the  members  at  that  season,  it  was 
thought  proper  to  circulate  the  acts  among  the  bish- 
ops, who  authorized  Julian,  archbishop  of  Toledo, 
to  transmit  a  rescript  to  Rome,  intimating  in  general 
their  approbation  of  the  late  decision  at  Constantino- 
ple, and  stating  at  considerable  length  the  sentiments 
of  the  Spanish  church  on  the  controverted  point.  A 
council,  convened  in  Toledo  during  the  following  year, 
entered  on  the  formal  consideration  of  this  affair,  in 
which  they  proceeded  in  such  a  manner  as  to  evince 
their  determination  to  preserve  at  once  the  purity  of 
the  faith  and  the  independence  of  the  Spanish  church. 
They  examined  the  acts  of  the  council  of  Constantino- 
ple, at  which  it  does  not  appear  that  they  had  any  re- 
presentative, and  declared  that  they  found  them  con- 
sonant with  the  decisions  of  the  four  preceding  canoni- 
cal councils,  particularly  that  of  Chalcedon,  of  which 
they  appeared  to  be  nearly  a  transcript.  "  Wherefore 
(say  they)  we  agree  that  the  acts  of  the  said  council 
be  reverenced  and  received  by  us,  inasmuch  as  they 
do  not  differ  from  the  foresaid  councils,  or  rather  as 
they  appear  to  coincide  with  them.  We  allot  to  them 
therefore  that  place  in  point  of  order  to  which  their 
merit  entitles  them.  Let  them  come  after  the  coun- 
cil of  Chalcedon,  by  whose  light  they  shine.''  The 
council  next  took  into  consideration  the  rescript  which 
archbisliop  Julian  had  sent  to  Rome,  and  pronounced 
it  "a  copious  and  lucid  exposition  of  the  truth  con- 
cerning the  double  will  and  operation  of  Christ;'' 
adding,  "  wherefore,  for  the  sake  of  general  instruc- 
tion, and  the  benefit  of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  we 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  21 

confirm  and  sanction  it  as  entitled  to  equal  honour 
and  reverence,  and  to  have  the  same  permanent  au- 
thority, as  the  decretal  epistles/'* 

The  council  of  Constantinople  had  condemned  pope 
Honorius  I.  as  an  abettor  of  the  Monothelite  heresy; 
a  stigma  which  the  advocates  of  papal  infallibility 
have  laboured  for  ages  to  wipe  off.  But  the  Spanish 
council,  on  the  present  occasion,  proceeded  further, 
and  advanced  a  proposition  which  strikes  at  the  very 
foundation  on  which  the  bishops  of  Rome  rest  their 
claims,  by  declaring,  that  the  rock  on  which  the 
church  is  built  is  the  faith  confessed  by  St.  Peter, 
and  not  his  person  or  office.! 

But  this  was  not  all  that  the  Spanish  clergy  did. 
When  the  rescript  of  the  archbishop  of  Seville  reach- 
ed Rome,  it  met  with  the  disapprobation  of  Benedict 
II.,  who  had  succeeded  Leo  in  the  popedom.  Having 
drawn  up  certain  animadversions  upon  it,  his  Holi- 
ness gave  them  to  the  Spanish  deputy  to  communi- 
cate to  his  constituents,  that  they  might  correct  those 
expressions  savouring  of  error  which  they  had  been 
led  incautiously  to  adopt.  An  answer,  not  the  most 
agreeable  to  the  pope,  was  returned  by  Julian  in  the 
mean  time;  and  the  subject  was  afterwards  taken  up 
by  a  national  council  held  in  688  at  Toledo.  Instead  of 
retracting  their  former  sentiments,  or  correcting  any  of 
the  expressions  which  the  pope  had  blamed,  the  Span- 
ish prelates  drew  up  and  sanctioned  a  laboured  vindi- 
cation of  the  paper  which  had  given  offence  to  his  Holi- 
ness, of  whom  they  speak  in  terms  very  disrespectful, 
and  even  contemptuous.  They  accuse  him  of  a  "care- 
less and  cursory  perusal"  of  their  rescript,  and  of  hav- 
ing passed  over  parts  of  it  which  were  necessary  to 
understand  their  meaning.  He  had  found  fault  with 
them  for  asserting  that  there  are  three  substances  in 
Christjt  to  which  they  reply:  "As  we  will  not  be 

*  Concil.  Tolet.  xiv.  capit.  5,  6,  7, 11 :  Labbe,  Collect.  Concil.  torn, 
vi.  1280—1284.     Harduin,  Acta  Concil.  torn.  iii.  p.  1754—1756. 

t  "  Scientes  igitur  solam  esse  fidei  confessionem  quae  vincat  infer- 
num,  quae  superat  tartarum;  de  hac  enim  fide  a  Domino  dictum  est, 
PortcB  inferni  non  prcevalebunt  contra  earn."  (lb.  capit.  10:  Harduin, 
ut  supra,  p.  1756.) 

t  The  same  sentiment  is  expressed  in  a  confession  of  faith,  which 


22  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ashamed  to  defend  the  truth,  so  there  are  perhaps 
some  other  persons  who  will  be  ashamed  at  being 
found  ignorant  of  the  truth.  For  who  knows  not 
that  in  every  man  there  are  two  substances,  namely, 
soul  and  body?''  After  confirming  their  opinion  by 
quotations  from  the  fathers,  they  add:  "But  if  any 
one  shall  be  so  shameless  as  not  to  acquiesce  in  these 
sentiments,  and  acting  the  part  of  a  haughty  inquirer, 
shall  ask,  whence  we  drew  such  things,  at  least  he 
will  yield  to  the  words  of  the  gospel,  in  which  Christ 
declares  that  he  possessed  three  substances."  Hav- 
ing quoted  and  commented  on  several  passages  of  the 
New  Testament,  the  council  concludes  in  these  terms: 
"  If,  after  this  statement,  and  the  sentiments  of  the 
fathers  from  which  it  has  been  taken,  any  person 
shall  dissent  from  us  in  any  thing,  we  will  have  no 
further  dispute  with  him,  but  keeping  steadily  in  the 
plain  path,  and  treading  in  the  footsteps  of  our  pre- 
decessors, we  are  persuaded  that  our  answer  will 
commend  itself  to  the  approbation  of  all  lovers  of 
truth  who  are  capable  of  formhig  a  divine  judgment, 
though  we  may  be  charged  with  obstinacy  by  the 
ignorant  and  envious."* 

a  preceding  council,  held  in  675,  had  drawn  up  for  the  use  of  the 
Spanish  churches. — "  Item  idem  Cliristus  in  duabus  naturis,  tribus 
cxlat  substantiis."  (Concil.  Tolct.  XI.  in  Harduini  Collect,  torn.  iii. 
p.  1022.)  The  three  substances,  according  to  the  divines  of  Spain, 
were  the  divine  nature  of  Christ,  his  human  soul,  and  his  body. 

*  Concil.  Tolct.  XV.  post  symbolum  :  Labbe,  VI.  1296-1303. 
Harduiii,  III.  1759 — 1767.  Ccnni,  at  a  greater  expense  than  that  of 
contradicting  himself,  labours  to  do  away,  or  rather  to  conceal,  the 
indignity  otlcred  to  the  Roman  Sec,  and  the  disregard  shown  to  its 
authority,  by  the  procedure  of  the  Spanish  councils.  He  allows  that 
the  fourteenth  council  of  Toledo  "  arrogated  to  itself  an  unjust  au- 
thority, and  openly  departed  from  obedience  to  the  Holy  Sec ;"  that 
"  it  adopted  a  new  and  unheard-of  method  of  approving  of  the  deci- 
sions of  a  general  council;"  and  that,  on  these  accounts,  "  none  of  its 
decrees  were  admitted  to  a  place  in  the  collection  of  sacred  canons." 
But  he  asserts  that  the  filtcenth  council  of  Toledo  "  manifestly 
amended  their  doctrine  concerning  the  tliree  substances;"  that 
"Julian"  (as  if  the  decree  had  been  his  only,  and  not  that  of  a  na- 
tional council)  "sometimes  makes  use  of  words  rather  too  free, 
though  somewhat  obscure,  against  Rome;  but  that,  upon  the  whole, 
he  changed  or  explained  his  former  sentiment,  agreeably  to  the  ad- 
monition of  the  Roman  PontiftV  Yet  lie  grants,  or  rather  pleads, 
that  this  "apology,"  as  he  calls  it,  was  not  approved  at  Rome;  is 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  23 

III.  The  independence  of  the  ancient  chnrch  of 
Spain  will  appear  more  fully  if  we  attend  to  its  form 
of  worship.  All  the  learned  who  have  directed  their 
attention  to  ecclesiastical  antiquities  are  now  agreed 
that,  although  the  mode  of  worship  was  substantially 
the  same  throughout  the  Christian  church,  during  the 
fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  centuries  yet  different  liturgies 
or  forms  of  celebrating  divine  service  were  practised 
in  different  nations,  and  sometimes  in  different  parts 
of  the  same  nation.  The  Ambrosian  liturgy,  used 
by  the  church  of  Milan,  differed  from  the  Roman."^ 
It  was  adopted  in  many  parts  of  France,  and  con- 
tinued in  use  there  until  the  time  of  Charlemagne, 
when  it  was  supplanted  by  the  Roman  or  Gregorian.t 
So  far  was  the  Church  of  Rome  from  having  at  first 
regulated  the  religious  service  of  other  churches  by 
her  laAVs,  or  even  by  her  example,  that  she  did  not 
even  preserve  her  own  forms,  which  were  superseded 
in  their  most  important  parts  by  the  sacramentary  or 
missal  which  was  drawn  up  by  pope  Gelasius,  cor- 
rected finally  by  Gregory  at  the  close  of  the  sixth 
century,  and  imposed  gradually  and  at  distant  periods, 
on  the  several  divisions  of  the  western  church. t 
Different  offices,  or  forms  of  celebrating  divine  ser- 
vice, were  used  in  Spain  down  to  the  year  633,  when 
the  fourth  council  of  Toledo  passed  a  decree  that  one 
uniform  order  should  be  observed  in  all  the  churches 
in  the  Peninsula. §  This  decree  led  to  the  adoption  of 
that  liturgy  which  has  been  called  the  Gothic,  and 

angry  with  those  writers  who  speak  in  its  defence  ;  and  concludes  by 
saying-,  "  that  this  blemish  on  the  well-constituted  church  of  Spain 
should  be  a  perpetual  monument  to  teach  the  churches  of  all  other 
nations  to  revere  the  one  sure,  infallible,  and  supreme  judgment  of 
the  Holy  See,  in  matters  of  faith  and  of  manners."  (De  Antiq.  Eccl. 
Hispana?,  tom.  ii.  p,  55 — 59.) 

*  Durandus,  Rat.  Divin.  Offic.  lib.  v.  Cap.  ii. 

t  Joannes  Diaconus,  Vita  Gregorii  Magni,  lib.  ii.  cap.  17.  proef. 
Oper.  Gregorii. 

t  Gregory,  (says  the  Roman  deacon  who  wrote  his  life,)  "  after 
taking  away  many  things  from  the  missal  of  Gelasius,  altering  a 
few  things  and  adding  some  things  for  explaining  the  evangelical 
lessons,  formed  the  whole  into  one  book."  (Joannes  Diaconus,  Vita 
Gregorii  Magni,  ut  supra.) 

§  Coucil.  Tolet.  IV.  capit.  2. 


24  HISTORY    OF    THE 

sometimes  the  Isidorian,  or  the  Ildefonsian  from 
St.  Isidore  and  Ildefonso,  archbishops  of  Seville,  by 
whom  it  was  revised  and  corrected.  That  this  ritual 
was  quite  different  from  the  Roman  or  Gregorian  is 
put  beyond  all  doubt,  by  the  references  made  to  both 
in  the  course  of  the  adoptionarian  controversy,  which 
raged  in  the  eighth  century.  The  patrons  of  the  adop- 
tionarian tenet  in  Spain  appealed  to  their  national 
ritual,  "  compiled  by  holy  men  who  had  gone  before 
them,"  and  quoted  passages  from  it  as  favourable  to 
their  views.  To  this  argument  the  fathers  of  the 
council  of  Frankfort  replied:  "  It  is  better  to  believe 
the  testimony  of  God  the  Father  concerning  his  own 
Son,  than  that  of  your  Ildefonso,  who  composed  for 
you  such  prayers,  in  the  solemn  masses,  as  the  uni- 
versal and  holy  Church  of  God  knows  not,  and  in 
which  we  do  not  think  you  will  be  heard.  And  if 
your  Ildefonso  in  his  prayers  called  Christ  the  adopt- 
ed Son  of  God,  our  Gregory,  pontiff  of  the  Roman  see, 
and  a  doctor  beloved  by  the  whole  world,  does  not  hesi- 
tate in  his  prayers  to  call  him  always  the  only  begot- 
ten."* In  like  mamier  Alcuin,  after  insinuating  that 
they  might  have  taken  improper  liberties  in  their 
quotations,  says:  "But  it  matters  not  much  whether 
these  testimonies  have  been  altered  or  correctly  quo- 
ted by  you;  for  we  wish  to  be  confirmed  in  the  truth 
of  our  assertion  and  faith  by  Roman  rather  than 
Spanish  authority."! 

The  Gothic  or  Isidorian  office  has  also  been  called 
the  Mozarabic  or  Mixtarabic,  probably  because  it  was 
used  and  held  in  great  veneration  by  the  Christians 
in  Spain  who  lived  under  the  dominion  of  the  Ara- 
bians or  JNIoors.  The  identity  of  these  formularies 
has  indeed  been  of  late  disputed  by  several  learned 

*  Collect.  Concil.  lorn.  vii.  p.  1034:  Ccnni,  ii.  346. 

t  Alcuin  adv.  Feliccin  Urgcl.  lib.  viii.  p.  305:  Cenni,  ii.  34G.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  cardinal  Thomasi  published 
a  Gothic  Missal,  as  that  of  tlic  ancient  Spanish  cimrch,  wliich  was 
republished  by  Mabillon  from  other  MSS.  But  this  is  supposed  not 
to  have  been  the  Spanish  Missal,  hut  that  of  Gallia  Narbonncnsis,  or 
the  South  of  France.  (Lebrun,  Dc  Liturg.  torn.  ii.  diss.  4.)  ,The 
Libellus  Oratio7Wiiu8,  which  Joseph  Blanchini  prefixed  to  the  first 
volume  of  the  works  of  Cardinal  'I'homasi,  has  better  claims  to  be 
considered  as  an  ancient  Spanish  Liturgy. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  25 

men.^  But  it  is  most  probable  that  they  were  ori- 
ginally the  same  office,  and  that  alterations  were 
made  upon  it,  both  by  the  Mozarabes  and  the  Mon- 
tanes,  (as  those  were  called  who  betook  themselves 
to  the  mountains  to  escape  the  yoke  of  the  Moors,) 
during  the  period  that  they  lived  asunder. 

Other  instances  in  which  the  worship  of  the  an- 
cient church  of  Spain  differed  widely  from  the  mo- 
dern might  be  produced.  We  have  already  mention- 
tioned  that  a  national  council,  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fourth  century,  prohibited  the  worship  of  images,  and 
the  use  of  pictures  in  Churches. t  It  may  be  added, 
that  the  first  council  of  Braga,  held  in  the  year  561, 
forbade  the  use  of  uninspired  hymns,  which  came  af- 
terwards to  be  tolerated,  and  were  ultimately  enjoin- 
ed under  the  highest  penalties.:}: 

Having  produced  these  facts  as  to  the  early  opi- 
nions and  usages  of  the  Spanish  church,  we  proceed 
to  state  the  manner  in  which  she  was  led  to  adopt 
the  rites,  and  submit  to  the  authority  of  the  church  of 
Rome. 

In  the  eleventh  century  Spain  was  divided  into 
three  kingdoms — the  kingdom  of  Leon  and  Castile, 
of  Aragon,  and  of  Navarre,  of  which  the  two  first 
were  by  far  the  most  powerful.  In  the  latter  part  of 
that  century,  Alfonso,  the  sixth  of  Leon,  and  first  of 
Castile,  after  recovering  Valentia  by  the  valour  of  the 
famous  Cid,  Ruy  Diaz  de  Bivar,  finally  obtained  pos- 
session of  Toledo,  which  had  l3een  in  the  power  of 
the  Moors  for  three  centuries  and  a  half.     He  had 

*  This  is  the  opinion  of  Blanchini,  in  his  preface  and  notes  to  the 
Libellus  Orat.  Gotico  Hispanus,  prefixed  to  the  works  of  Cardinal 
Thomasi;  and  of  Cenni,  De  Antiq.  Eccl.  Hispanae,  torn.  i.  p.  28 — 30. 
torn.  ii.  dissert,  vii. 

t  See  before  p.  15. 

t  "  Placuit,  ut  extra  psalmos,  vel  canonicarum  scripturarum  novi 
et  veteris  Testanienti,  nihil  poetice  compositum  in  Eeclcsia  psallatur, 
sicut  et  sancti  praecipinnt  canones."  (Concil.  Bracarense  I,  can.  12  : 
Harduini  Collect,  torn.  iii.  p.  351.)  But  another  council,  held  in  633, 
not  only  permitted  the  use  of  such  hymns  as  those  of  St.  Hilary  and 
St.  Ambrose,  but  threatened  all  who  rejected  them  with  excommuni- 
cation.    (Concil.  Tolet.  iv.  capit.  13.) 

3 


26  HISTORY    OF    THE 

married,  for  his  second  wife,  Constance,  a  daughter 
of  the  royal  house  of  France,  who,  from  attachment 
to  the  rehgious  service  to  which  she  had  heen  accus- 
tomed, or  under  the  influence  of  the  priests  who  ac- 
companied her,  instigated  her  hushand  to  introduce 
the  Roman  hturgy  into  Castile.  Richard,  abhot  of 
jNIarseilles,  the  papal  legate,  exerted  all  his  influence 
in  favour  of  a  change  so  agreeable  to  the  court  which 
he  represented.  Tlie  innovation  was  warmly  opposed 
by  the  clergy,  nobihty,  and  people  at  large,  but  espe- 
cially by  the  inhabitants  of  Toledo  and  other  places 
which  had  been  under  the  dominion  of  the  Moors. 
To  determine  tliis  controversy,  recourse  was  had,  ac- 
cording to  the  custom  of  the  dark  ages,  to  judicial 
combat.  Two  knights,  clad  in  complete  armour,  ap- 
peared before  the  court  and  an  immense  assembly. 
The  champion  of  the  Gothic  liturgy  prevailed;  but 
the  king  insisted  that  the  litigated  point  should  un- 
dergo another  trial,  and  be  submitted  to,  what  was 
called,  the  judgment  of  God.  Accordingly,  in  the 
presence  of  another  great  assembly,  a  copy  of  the  two 
rival  liturgies  was  thrown  mto  the  fire.  The  Gothic 
resisted  the  flames  and  was  taken  out  unhurt,  while 
the  Roman  was  consumed.  But  upon  some  pretext 
— apparently  the  circumstance  of  the  ashes  of  the  Ro- 
man liturgy  curling  on  the  top  of  the  flames  and  then 
leaping  out — the  king,  with  the  concurrence  of  Ber- 
nard, arclibishop  of  Toledo,  who  was  a  Frenchman, 
gave  out  that  it  was  the  will  of  God  that  both  offices 
should  be  used;  and  ordained,  that  the  public  service 
should  continue  to  be  celebrated  according  to  the 
Gothic  office  in  the  six  churches  of  Toledo  which  the 
Christians  had  enjoyed  under  the  Moors,  but  that  the 
Roman  oflicc  should  be  adopted  in  all  the  other 
churches  of  the  kingdom.  The  people  Avere  greatly 
displeased  with  the  glaring  partiality  of  this  decision, 
which  is  said  to  have  given  rise  to  the  proverb,  The 
law  s^oes  as  kings  choose/^  Discountenanced  by  the 
court  and  the  superior  ecclesiastics,  the  Gothic  liturgy 

*  "  AlJa  van  leycs,  donde  quicrcn  Reyes." 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  27 

gradually  fell  into  disrepute,  until  it  was  completely 
superseded  by  the  Roman."* 

The  introduction  of  the  Roman  liturgy  had  been 
undertaken  rather  more  early  in  Aragon  than  in  Cas- 
tile, but  was  completed  in  both  kingdoms  about  the 
same  time.  The  modern  inhabitants  of  the  Peninsu- 
la please  themselves  with  the  idea  that  they  are  hear- 
ing the  self-same  mass  which  has  been  performed  in 
Spain  from  the  days  of  the  apostles;  whereas,  the  ex- 
act day  and  place  in  which  the  modern  service  began, 
can  be  pointed  out.  The  first  mass,  according  to  the 
Roman  form,  was  celebrated  in  Aragon  in  the  mo- 
nastery of  St.  Juan  de  la  Pena,  on  the  21st  of 
March  1071;  and  in  Castile,  in  the  Grand  Mosque 
of  Toledo,  on  the  25th  of  October  1806.t  Gregory 
VII.  commemorates  this  change,  "as  the  deliverance 
of  Spain  from  the  illusion  of  the  Toledan  supersti- 
tion."! His  Holiness  was  more  clear-sighted  than 
those  moderns,  who,  looking  upon  all  forms  of  wor- 
ship as  equal,  treat  with  contempt  or  indifference 
the  efforts  made  by  a  people  to  defend  their  reli- 
gious rights  against  the  encroachments  of  domestic,  or 
the  intrusions  of  foreign  authority.  The  recognition 
of  the  papal  authority  in  Spain  followed  upon  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  Roman  liturgy :  nor  would  the  lat- 
ter have  been  sought  with  such  eagerness,  had  it  not 

*  Doctor  Juan  Vergara,  apud  Quintanilla,  p.  115,  De  Robles,  233 
—235.  Florez,  Clave  Historial,  pp.  129,  130.  202.  There  is  a  dis- 
sertation on  the  Mozarabic  office  in  Espana  Sagrada,  torn.  iii.  Sis- 
mondi,  who  appears  to  have  borrowed  part  of  his  information  on 
this  controversy  from  a  play  of  Calderon,  entitled  "  Orig-en,  perdida, 
y  restauracion  de  la  Virgen  del  Sagrario,"  is  inaccurate  in  his  state- 
ment. He  says  that  the  king  wished  to  introduce  the  AmLrosian 
ceremony,  and  thinks  it  fortunate  that  "  the  policy  of  the  monarch, 
and  not  the  jealousy  of  the  priests,"  was  the  principal  instrument  in 
settling  the  dispute.  (Hist,  of  Literature  of  the  South,  vol.  iii.  p.  196, 
197.)  Townsend  confounds  what  was  done  by  Alfonso  in  the  end  of 
the  eleventh  century  with  what  was  done  by  Cardinal  Ximenes  in 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth;  and  praises  the  decision  as  indicating 
a  spirit  of  enlightened  toleration.  "  Cease  to  persecute,  (says  he)  and 
all  sects  will  in  due  time  dwindle  and  decay."  (Travels  through 
Spain,  vol.  i.  p.  311,  312.) 

t  Illescas,  Hist.  Pontifical,  torn.  i.  f.  269 .  Zurita,  Annales  de  Ara- 
gon, torn.  i.  f.  25,  b.  X  Zurita,  f.  22,  b. 


28  HISTORY    OF    THE 

been  with  a  view  to  the  former.  Having  once  ob- 
tained a  footing  in  the  Peninsula,  the  popes  pushed 
their  claims,  until  at  last  the  whole  nation,  includmg 
the  highest  authorities  in  it,  civil  as  well  as  ecclesias- 
tical, aclaiowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  see. 
It  is  sufficient  to  exemplify  this  statement  in  the 
subjugation  of  the  crown  and  kingdom  of  Aragon. 
Don  Ramiro  I.,  who  died  in  1063,  Avas  the  first  Span- 
ish king,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Gregory  the 
Great,  who  recognised  the  pope  and  received  the  laws 
of  Rome.*  In  1204,  Don  Pedro  II.,  eight  years  after 
he  had  ascended  the  throne,  went  to  Rome,  and  was 
crowned  by  pope  Innocent  III.  On  that  occasion  his 
Holiness  put  the  crown  on  his  head  in  the  monastery 
of  Pancracio,  after  Pedro  had  given  his  corporal  oath 
that  he  and  all  his  successors  would  be  faithful  to  the 
church  of  Rome,  preserve  his  kingdom  in  obedience 
to  it,  defend  the  catholic  faith,  pursue  heretical  pravi- 
ty,  and  maintain  inviolate  the  liberties  and  immuni- 
ties of  the  holy  church.  Then  going  to  the  chapel  of 
St.  Peter,  the  pope  delivered  the  sword  mto  the  hands 
of  the  king,  who,  armed  as  a  cavalier,  dedicated  all 
his  dominions  to  St.  Peter,  the  prince  of  the  apostles, 
and  to  Innocent  and  his  successors,  as  a  fief  of  the 
church;  engaging  to  pay  an  annual  tribute,  as  a  mark 
of  homage  and  gratitude  for  his  coronation.  In  re- 
turn for  all  this  his  Holiness  granted,  as  a  special 
favour,  that  the  kings  of  Aragon,  instead  of  being 
obliged  to  come  to  Rome,  should  afterwards  be  crown- 
ed in  Saragossa,  by  the  archbishop  of  Tarragona,  as 
papal  vicar.  This  act  of  submission  was  highly  of- 
fensive to  the  nobility,  who  protested  for  their  own 
rights,  and  to  the  people  at  large,  who  complained 
that  thoir  liberties  were  sold,  and  power  given  to  the 
popes  to  disturb  the  peace  of  the  khigdom  at  their 
pleasure. t     It  was  not  long  before  these  fears  were 

♦  "  Fue  cl  primcro  do  los  rcycs  dc  Espana,  que  hizo  cste  reconosci- 
micnto,  y  cncarccc  muclio  cl  Papa,  que  como  otro  Moyscn,  fue  tam- 
bien  cl  |)ritncro  (]ue  en  su  re(];'no  recibio  las  Icycs  y  costunibres  lio^ 
manas."  (Zurita,  torn.  i.  f.  "JS,  a.) 

t  Zurita,  lou).  i.  f.  !)0,  'Jl.  iMariana,  De  Rebus  Hispanise,  lib.  xi. 
cap.  xxi.  edit.    t::chotti  llispania  lUubtrata,  torn.  ii.  p.  546.   The  same 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  29 

realized.  The  king,  having  a  few  years  after  offend- 
ed the  pope  by  taking  arms  in  defence  of  heretics, 
was  laid  under  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  for 
violating  the  oath  which  he  had  sworn ;  and  his  grand- 
son, Pedro  the  Great,  was  deprived  of  his  kingdom, 
as  a  vassal  of  the  church,  which  kindled  a  civil  war, 
and  led  to  the  invasion  of  Aragon  by  the  French.* 
Attempts  to  release  themselves  from  this  degrading 
vassalage  were  made  by  different  monarchs,  but  these 
always  issued  in  the  renewal  of  their  oaths  of  fealty 
to  Rome ;  and  they  found  it  too  late  to  throw  off  a 
yoke  which  had  by  this  time  been  received  by  all  the 
nations  around  them,  and  which  they  had  taught  their 
own  subjects  to  revere  and  hold  sacred. 

The  history  of  Spain  during  the  period  we  are  re- 
viewing, furnishes  important  notices  respecting  the 
Waldenses,  Vaudois  or  Albigenses,  whom  we  former- 
ly met  with  in  tracing  the  progress  of  the  Reformation 
in  Italy.  It  is  well  known,  that  these  early  reformers 
had  fixed  their  abode  in  the  southern  provinces  of 
France,  where  they  multiplied  greatly  in  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries.t  Various  causes  contributed  to 
this.  The  inhabitants  of  the  south  of  France,  though 
inferior  in  arms,  were  superior  in  civilization,  to  those 
of  the  north.  They  had  addicted  themselves  to  com- 
merce and  the  arts.  Tlieir  cities,  which  were  nume- 
rous and  flourishing,  enjoyed  privileges  favourable  to 
the  spirit  of  liberty,  and  which  raised  them  nearly  to 
the  rank  of  the  Italian  republics,  with  which  they 
had  long  traded.  They  possessed  a  language  rich 
and  flexible,  which  they  cultivated  both  in  prose  and 
verse:  academies  for  promoting  the  Giii  Saber,  or 
polite  letters,  were  erected  among  them;  and  the 
Troubadours,  as  the  Provengal  poets  were  called, 
were  received  with  honour,  and  listened  to  with  en- 
oath  and  homage  were  given  to  the  pope  for  Sardinia  and  Corsica,  in 
1316,  by  the  ambassadors  of  James  II.  of  Aragon;  which  was  re- 
peated, in  1337,  by  Alfonso  IV.     (Zurita,  lib.  vi.  f.  27,  125.) 

*  Zurita,  lib.  iv.  f  253—262. 

t  Histoire  Generale  de  Languedoc,  par  Le  Pere  Vaisette,  torn.  iii. 
p.  1 — 4.    Usserius,  De  Christ.  Eccles.  Success,  cap.  x.  sect.  18,  p.  ]54. 


30  HISTORY    OF    THE 

thusiasm,  at  the  courts  of  the  numerous  petty  princes 
among  whom  the  country  was  divided.  A  people 
advanced  to  this  stage  of  improvement  were  not  dis- 
posed to  hsten  with  impUcit  faith  to  the  rehgious  dog- 
mas which  the  clergy  inculcated,  or  to  submit  tamely 
to  the  superstitious  and  absurd  observances  which 
they  sought  to  impose.  Add  to  this  that  the  manners 
of  the  clergy,  both  higher  and  lower,  in  those  pro- 
vinces, Avere  disorderly  and  vicious  to  a  proverb. 
"  I  would  rather  be  a  priest,  than  have  done  such 
a  thing!''  was  a  common  exclamation  among  the 
people  on  hearing  of  any  unworthy  action.  With 
these  feelings  they  were  prepared  to  listen  to  the 
reformers,  who  exposed  the  errors  and  corruptions 
which  had  defaced  the  beauty  of  the  primitive  church 
and  whose  conduct  formed,  in  point  of  decency  and 
sobriety,  a  striking  contrast  to  that  of  the  established 
clergy.  For  the  last  mentioned  fact  we  have  the  tes- 
timony of  those  monkish  writers,  wiio  strove  to  black- 
en their  characters,  by  alleging  that  they  practised 
all  kinds  of  licentiousness  in  secret.  "  I  will  relate 
(says  the  abbot  of  Puy  Laurens)  what  I  have  heard 
bishop  Fulco  tell  as  to  a  conversation  which  he  had 
with  Pons  Ademar  de  Rodelia,  a  prudent  knight.  '  I 
cannot  bring  myself  to  believe,'  says  the  latter, '  that 
Rome  has  sufficient  grounds  to  proceed  against  these 
men.'  '  Are  they  not  unable  to  answer  our  argu- 
ments ?'  demanded  the  bishop.  '  I  grant  it,'  said  the 
other.  *  Well,  then,'  rejoined  the  bishop;  "why  do 
you  not  expel  and  drive  them  from  your  territories?' 
'  We  cannot  do  it,'  replied  the  knight ;  *  we  have  been 
brought  up  with  them;  we  have  our  friends  among 
them;  and  we  see  them  living  honestly.'  After  re- 
lating this  anecdote  on  the  authority  of  the  archbishop 
of  Toulouse,  the  great  adversary  of  the  Albigenses,  the 
historian  adds :  "  Thus  it  is  that  falsehood,  veiled  mi- 
der  the  appearance  of  a  spotless  life,  draws  uncau- 
tious  men  from  the  truth."* 

The  Albigensian  barbs  or  pastors,  enjoying  a  res- 
pite  from  persecution  during  the  early  part  of  the 

*  Guil.  de  Podio  Laur.  Chronic,  cap.  viii.. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  31 

twelfth  century,  applied  themselves  to  the  study  of  the 
Scriptures,  and  dev^oted  their  hours  of  relaxation  to 
the  cultivation  of  poetry.  They  were  held  in  t^ene- 
ration  by  the  people  who  named  them  in  their  wills, 
and  left  for  the  support  of  the  new  worship  those 
sums  which  had  been  formerly  bequeathed  to  the 
priests  or  appropriated  for  the  saying  of  masses  for 
their  own  souls  and  those  of  their  departed  relations. 
They  had  chapels  in  the  principal  castles;  their  reli- 
gious service  was  frequented  by  persons  of  all  ranks ; 
and  they  numbered  among  their  converts  many  in- 
dividuals of  noble  birth,  and  who  held  some  of  the 
principal  situations  in  the  country.  Among  their  pro- 
tectors were  the  powerful  counts  of  Toulouse,  Ray- 
mond VI.  and  VII.,  the  counts  of  Foix  and  Comenges, 
the  viscounts  of  Beziers  and  Beam,  Savary  de  Mau- 
leon.  Seneschal  of  Aquitaine,  Guiraud  de  Minerve, 
and  Olivier  de  Termes,  a  cavalier  who  had  distinguish- 
ed himself  greatly  in  the  wars  against  the  infidels  in 
the  Holy  Land,  in  Africa  and  in  Majorca.  Their 
opinions  were  avowedly  entertained  by  the  wives 
and  sisters  of  these  great  lords,  as  well  as  by  the 
heads  of  the  noble  houses  of  Mirepoix,  Saissac,  La- 
vour,  Montreal,  St.  Michael  de  Fanjaux,  Durfort, 
Lille- Jourdain,  and  Montsegur.* 

When  we  have  stated  these  facts,  we  have  said 
enough  to  account  for  the  implacable  hostility  to  this 
sect  on  the  part  of  the  ruling  ecclesiastics,  and  the 
bloody  crusades  preached  up  against  it  by  the  monks, 
and  conducted,  under  the  direction  of  the  popes,  by 
Simon  de  Montfort  and  Louis  VIII.  of  France,  during 
the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth  century.  By  means  of 
these  the  attempted  reformation  of  the  church  was 
suppressed,  and  its  disciples  nearly  exterminated;  one 
of  the  finest  regions  of  the  world  was  laid  waste  by 
countless  and  successive  hordes  of  barbarous  fanatics 
— its  commerce  destroyed,  its  arts  amiihilated,  its  lite- 

*  Hist.  Gen.  de  Languedoc,  torn.  iii.  pp.  129.  147,  420.  Preuves, 
pp.  58.  392.  435—442.  Sismondi,  History  of  the  Crusades  ag-ainst 
the  Albigenses,  pp.  5—8,  63,  73—77,  521,  178.  Hist,  of  Literature 
of  South  of  Europe,  vol.  i.  pp,  217,  219.  Mariana,  De  Reb,  Hisp.  lib. 
xii.  cap.  10. 


32  HISTORY    OF    THE 

rature  extinguished;  and  the  progress  of  the  human 
mind  in  knowledge  and  civilization,  which  had  com- 
menced so  auspiciously,  was  arrested  and  thrown 
back  for  ages.* 

The  intimate  connection  which  subsisted  between 
Spain  and  the  South  of  France  had  great  influence  on 
the  fate  of  the  Albigensian  reformers.  Provence  and 
Languedoc  were  at  that  time  more  properly  Aragon- 
ese  than  French.  As  count  of  Provence,  the  king  of 
Aragon  was  the  immediate  liege  lord  of  the  viscounts 
of  Narbonne,  Beziers,  and  Carcassone.  Avignon  and 
other  cities  acloiowledged  him  as  their  baronial  supe- 
rior. The  principal  lords,  though  they  did  homage  to 
the  king  of  France  or  to  the  emperor,  yielded  obedi- 
ence in  reality  to  the  Spanish  monarch,  lived  under  his 
protection,  and  served  in  his  armies.  And  several  of 
them,  by  gifts  from  the  crown,  or  by  marriages,  pos- 
sessed lands  in  Spain. 

In  consequence  of  this  connection  between  the  two 
countries,  some  of  the  Vaudois  had  crossed  the  Py- 
renees and  established  themselves  in  Spain  as  early  as 
the  middle  of  the  twelfth  century.t  They  appear  to 
have  enjoyed  repose  there  for  some  time ;  but  in  the 
year  1194,  pope  Celestin  III.  sent  the  cardinal  St.  An- 
gelo  as  legate  to  attend  a  council  at  Lerida,  who  pre- 
vailed on  Alfonso  II.  king  of  Aragon,  to  publish  an 
edict,  ordering  the  Vaudois,  Poor  IVIen  of  Lyons,  and 
all  other  heretics,  to  quit  his  territories  under  severe 

*  The  rroven(;'al  poets  bewailed  the  desolation  of  their  country, 
and  invcifjhed  in  bitter  strains  against  the  crusaders.  They  were  in 
general  friendly  to  the  Albigcnses.  But  one  of  them,  Izarn,  a  Do- 
niinican  missionary,  sought  to  inflame  the  persecution  by  his  poetry, 
which  exhibits  tlje  true  language  of  the  Inquisition  put  into  rhyme. 
(Sismondi,  Hist,  of  the  Lit.  of  the  t^outh,  vol.  i.  p.  227.)  Addressing 
the  heretic,  whom  he  had  failed  to  convince  in  a  dispute,  he  says  : 

As  you  dec'are  you  won't  believe,  'tis  fit  that  you  should  burn. 

And  as  your  fellow  have  been  burnt,  that  you  should  blaze  in  turn; 

And  as  you've  disobeyed  the  will  ofCiod  and  of  St.  Paul, 

Which  ne'er  was  found  within  your  heart,  nor  pass'd  your  teeth  at  all, 

'i'he  fire  is  lit,  the  jiiteh  is  hot,  and  ready  is  the  stake. 

That  thro'  these  tortures,  for  your  sins,  your  passage  you  may  take. 

t  Cuil.  Neobrig.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xiii.;  apud  Hist.  Gen.  do  Languedoc, 
torn.  iii.  p.  2. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  33 

pains.*  This  edict  not  having  produced  any  effect, 
was  renewed  three  years  after  by  Pedro  II.,  in  conse- 
sequence  of  a  decree  of  a  council  held  at  Gironna. 
With  the  view  of  securing  the  execution  of  this  mea- 
sure, the  subscriptions  of  all  the  grandees  of  Catalonia 
were  procured  to  the  decree ;  and  all  governors  and 
judges  were  required  to  swear  before  the  bishops,  that 
they  would  assist  in  discovering  and  punishing  those 
infected  with  heresy,  under  the  penalty  of  being  them- 
selves treated  as  heretics.!  Notwithstanding  this  edict, 
and  the  engagements  he  had  contracted  at  his  corona- 
tion, Pedro  was  disposed  to  be  favourable  to  this  sect. 
He  was  from  the  beginning  displeased  at  the  crusade 
which  raged  on  the  north  of  the  Pyrenees ;  and  having 
at  last  joined  his  army  to  those  of  his  brother-in-law 
Raymond,  count  of  Toulouse,  he  fell,  in  the  year  1213, 
fighting  in  defence  of  the  Albigenses  in  the  battle  of 
Muret..-j: 

This  disaster,  together  with  those  that  followed  it, 
induced  multitudes  of  the  Albigenses  to  take  refuge  in 
Aragon,  who  gave  ample  employment  to  the  Inquisi- 
tion after  it  was  established  in  that  country.  From 
the  accession  of  Pope  Gregory  IX.  to  that  of  Alexan- 
der IV.,  (that  is,  from  1227  to  1254,)  they  had  grown 
to  such  numbers  and  credit  as  to  have  churches  in  va- 
rious parts  of  Catalonia  and  Aragon,  which  were  pro- 
vided with  bishops,  who  boldly  preached  their  doc- 
trine. §  Gregory,  in  a  brief  which  he  addressed  to  the 
archbishop  of  Tarragona  and  his  suffragans,  in  1232, 
complains  of  the  increase  of  heresy  in  their  dioceses, 
and  exhorts  them  to  make  strict  inquisition  after  it  by 
means  of  the  Dominican  monks ;  and  his  successor  Al- 
exander repeated  the  complaint. ||    In  1237,  the  flames 

*  Llorentc,  i.  30. 

t  Ibid.  p.  31,  32.  Marca.  Hisp.  apud  Hist.  Gen.  de  Languedoc,  iii. 
130. 

X  Zurita,  Annales  de  Aragon,  torn.  i.  p.  99 — 101.  Hist.  Gen.  de 
Languedoc,  iii.  248 — 254;  Sismondi,  Hist,  of  Crusades  against  Albi- 
gense.s,  p.  98 — 101.  Perrin,  ii.  76—92.  Usserius,  de  Christ.  Eccl. 
Successione  et  Statu,  cap.  x.  sect.  37,  38,  39. 

§  Mat.  Paris,  ad.  an.  1214.     Perrin,  part  i.  p.  246. 

II  Llorente,  i.  67.     Leger,  ii.  337. 


34  HISTORY    OF    THE 

of  persecution  were  kindled  in  the  viscounty  of  Cer- 
dagne  and  Castlebon,  Avithin  the  diocese  of  (Jrgel ; 
forty-five  persons  bcins:  condemned,  of  whom  fifteen 
were  burnt  aUve,  and  eigliteen  disinterred  bodies  cast 
into  the  fire.*  In  1267,  the  inquisitors  of  Barcelona 
pronounced  sentence  against  Raymond,  count  of  For- 
calquier  and  Urgel,  ordering  his  bones,  as  those  of  a  re- 
lapsed heretic,  to  be  taken  out  of  the  grave  ;t  And  two 
years  after  they  passed  the  same  sentence  on  Arnold, 
viscount  of  Castlebon  and  Cerdagne,and  his  daughter 
Ermesinde,  wife  of  Roger-Bernard  II.,  count  of  Foix, 
surnamed  the  Great.:):  Both  father  and  daughter  had 
been  dead  upwards  of  twenty  years,  yet  their  bones 
were  ordered  to  be  disinterred,  ''  provided  they  could 
be  found;"  a  preposterous  and  unnatural  demonstra- 
tion of  zeal  for  the  faith,  which  is  applauded  by  the 
fanatical  writers  of  that  age,  but  was  in  fact  dictated 
by  hatred  to  the  memory  of  the  brave  and  generous 
Count  de  Foix.  When  summoned  in  his  lifetime  to 
appear  before  the  inquisition  at  Toulouse,  that  noble- 
man not  only  treated  their  order  with  contempt,  but 
in  his  turn  summoned  the  inquisitors  of  the  county  of 
Foix  to  appear  before  him  as  his  vassals  and  subjects. 
During  his  exile  at  the  court  of  his  father-in-law,  he 
was  excommunicated  by  the  bishop  of  Urgel  as  a  fa- 
vourer of  heresy;  and  although  the  sentence  was  re- 
moved, and  he  died  in  the  communion  of  the  Church, 
yet  the  inquisitors  never  could  forgive  the  disinterest- 
ed and  determined  resistance  which  he  had  made  to 
their  barbarous  proceedings.  They  put  one  of  his 
servants  to  the  torture,  with  the  view  of  extorting 
from  him  some  evidence  upon  which  they  might  pro- 

*  Hist,  de  Lanpfucdoc,  iii.  412.     Preuves,  p.  383. 

t  Llorcntc,  i.  72. 

t  Hist.  (icn.  de  Langucdoc,  iii.  115,  382.  In  1207,  the  bishop  of 
Ozma,  and  other  prcachinfj  missionaries,  held  a  dispute  with  the 
tcaclicrs  of  the  Vaudois  at  Paniicrs.  On  that  occasion  the  Count  de 
Foix  entertained  both  jjarties  alternately  in  his  palace:  his  countess 
Ermesinde,  and  two  of  his  sisters,  openly  befriended  the  sectaries. 
One  of  the  latter,  Eselaramonde,  married  to  Jourdain  II.  sieur  de 
Lille-Jourdain,  having  said  somethinjr  in  their  favour  during  the  con- 
ference, was  silenced  by  one  of  the  missionaries,  who  rudely  ordered 
her  to  her  distalf.     (ibid.  p.  117.     Preuves,  p.  437.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  35 

noimce  that  his  master  had  died  a  heretic;  and,  hav- 
ing failed  in  that  attempt,  they  now  sought  to  wreak 
their  vengeance  on  the  memory  and  the  ashes  of  the 
countess  and  her  father.* 

It  has  been  said  that  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons  or 
Waldenses,  when  they  made  their  first  appearance, 
were  looked  upon  at  Rome  as  an  order  of  monks  who 
wished  to  revive  the  decaying  fervour  of  piety  among 
the  people,  and  to  lead  a  life  of  superior  sanctity 
among  themselves;  and  that  it  was  seriously  propos- 
ed at  one  time  to  give  the  pontifical  sanction  to  their 
internal  regulations.!  Whatever  truth  there  may  be  in 
this  statement,  it  is  a  curious  fact,  that,  in  Spain,  some 
individuals  of  this  sect  did  obtain  a  temporary  respite 
from  persecution  by  forming  themselves  into  a  new 
religious  fraternity.  In  consequence  of  a  dispute  held 
at  Pamiers  in  Languedoc,  Durando  de  Huesca,  a  na- 
tive of  Aragon,  with  a  number  of  his  Albigensian 
brethren,  yielded  to  the  Romish  missionaries,  and 
having  obtained  liberty  to  retire  into  Catalonia,  form- 
ed a  religious  community  under  the  name  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Poor  Catholics.  In  1207  Durando  went  to 
Rome,  where  he  obtained  from  Innocent  III.  the  re- 
mission of  his  former  heresy,  and  an  approbation  of 
his  fraternity,  of  which  he  was  declared  superior.  Its 
members  lived  on  alms,  applied  themselves  to  study 
and  the  teaching  of  schools,  kept  lent  twice  a-year, 
and  wore  a  decent  habit  of  white  or  grey,  with  shoes 
open  at  the  top,  but  distinguished  by  some  particular 
mark  from  those  of  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  who, 
from  this  part  of  their  dress,  were  sometimes  called 
Insabatati.  The  ncAV  order  spread  so  rapidly,  that  in 
a  few  years  it  had  numerous  convents  both  to  the 
south  and  north  of  the  Pyrenees.  But  although  the 
Poor  Catholics  professed  to  devote  themselves  to  the 
conversion  of  heretics,  and  their  superior  wrote  some 
books  with  that  view,  they  soon  incurred  the  suspi- 

*  Hist,  de  Languedoc,  iii.  412,  419,  427.  Preuvcs,  p.  383—385, 
392.  437.  552.     Llorentc,  i  73,  74. 

t  Muratori,  Antiq.  Ital.  Dissert.  60,  torn.  v.  p.  83.  Abbatis  Ursper- 
g-ensis  Chronic,  ad.  an.  1212;  et  auctt.  citat.  Usserio,  De  Christ.  Eccl. 
Success,  et  Statu,  cap.  x.  sect.  1,  p.  146. 


36  HISTORY    OF    THE 

cion  of  the  bishops,  who  accused  them  of  favouring 
the  Vaudois,  and  conceaUng  their  heretical  tenets  un- 
der the  monastic  garb.  They  had  interest  to  main- 
tain themselves  for  some  time,  and  even  to  procure 
letters  from  his  Holiness,  exhorting  the  bishops  to  en- 
deavour to  gain  them  by  kindness  instead  of  aliena- 
ting their  minds  from  the  church  by  severe  treatment ; 
but  their  enemies  at  last  prevailed,  and  within  a  short 
time  no  trace  of  their  establishment  was  to  be  found.* 
The  Albigenses  were  not  confined  to  Aragon  and 
Catalonia.  Of  the  extent  to  which  they  spread  in 
the  kingdom  of  Castile  and  Leon,  we  may  form  some 
judgment  from  an  amusing  anecdote,  related  from 
personal  knowledge,  by  Lucio,  bishop  of  Tuy,  known, 
as  a  writer  against  the  Albigenses,  by  the  name  of 
Lucas  Tudensis;  and  which  I  shall  give  as  nearly  in 
his  own  words  as  is  consistent  with  perspicuity.  Af- 
ter the  death  of  Roderic,  bishop  of  Leon,  (in  the  year 
1237,t)  great  dissension  arose  about  the  election  of  his 
successor.  Taking  advantage  of  this  circumstance, 
the  heretics  flocked  from  all  quarters  to  that  city.  In 
one  of  the  suburbs,  where  every  kind  of  filth  was 
thrown,  lay,  along  with  those  of  a  murderer,  the  bones 
of  a  heretic,  named  Arnald,  who  had  been  buried  six- 
teen years  before.  Near  to  this  was  a  fountain,  over 
which  they  erected  an  edifice,  and  having  taken  up 
the  bones  of  Arnald,  whom  they  extolled  as  a  martyr, 
deposited  them  in  it.  To  this  place  a  number  of  per- 
sons, hired  by  the  heretics,  came;  and  feigning  them- 
selves to  be  blind,  lame,  and  afiiictcd  witli  other  dis- 
orders, they  drank  of  the  waters  of  the  fountain,  and 
then  went  away,  saying  that  they  were  suddenly  and 
miraculously  healed.  This  being  noised  abroad,  great 
muhitudes  flocked  to  the  spot.  After  they  had  got  a 
number  of  the  clergy,  as  well  as  laity,  to  give  credit 
to  the  pretended  cures,  the  heretics  disclosed  the  im- 
position wliich  tliey  had  practised,  and  then  boasted 
that  all  the  miracles  i)erlornicd  at  the  tombs  of  the 

*  Antonii  Bibl.  Hlsp.  Vctus,  torn.  ii.  p.  45,  46.    Hist.  Gen.  de  Lan- 
gucdoc,  toin.  iii.  p.  147,  148. 

t  Antonii  Bibl.  Ilisp.  Vet.  torn.  ii.  p.  59. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  37 

saints  were  of  the  same  kind.  By  this  means,  they 
drew  many  to  their  heresy.  In  vain  did  the  Domini- 
can and  Franciscan  friars  attempt  to  stem  the  torrent 
of  defection,  by  exclaiming  against  the  sin  of  offering 
sacrilegious  prayers  in  a  place  defiled  by  profane 
bones.  They  were  cried  down  as  heretics  and  mibe- 
lievers.  In  vain  did  the  adjacent  bishops  excommu- 
nicate those  who  visited  the  fountain  or  worshipped 
in  the  temple.  The  devil  had  seized  the  minds  of  the 
people  and  fascinated  their  senses.  At  last,  a  deacon, 
who  resided  at  Rome,  hearing  of  the  state  of  matters 
in  his  native  city,  hastened  to  Leon,  and  "  in  a  kind 
of  frenzy,"  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  upbraided  the  inha- 
bitants for  favouring  heretics,  and  called  on  the  ma- 
gistrates to  abate  the  nuisance.  For  some  months 
before  his  arrival,  the  country  had  been  afflicted  with 
a  severe  drought.  This  he  declared  to  be  a  judgment 
from  heaven  on  account  of  their  sin,  but  promised  that 
it  should  be  removed  within  eight  days  from  the  time 
that  they  pulled  down  the  heretical  temple.  The  ma- 
gistrates granted  him  permission,  and  he  razed  the 
building  to  its  foundation.  Scarcely  was  this  done, 
when  a  fire  devoured  a  great  part  of  the  city,  and  for 
seven  days  no  symptom  of  rain  appeared;  upon  which 
the  heretics  insulted  over  the  deacon.  But  on  the 
eighth  day  the  clouds  collected,  and  poured  down  co- 
pious and  refreshing  showers  on  all  the  surrounding 
country.  "  After  this,  the  foresaid  deacon  raised  per- 
secution against  the  heretics,  who,  being  forced  to 
leave  the  city,  were  miserably  scattered  abroad."* 
We  are  assured,  and  not  without  great  probability, 
that  the  deacon  was  no  other  than  Lucas  Tudensis, 
whose  modesty  induced  him  to  suppress  his  name  m 
relating  the  prediction  and  the  persecution,  in  both  of 
which  he  appears  to  have  equally  gloried.t 

In  spite  of  the  occupation  given  to  the  clergy  by 
the  suppression  of  the  Knights  Templars,  and  the 
schism  of  the  anti-popes,  the  persecution  of  the  Albi- 

*  Mariana,  de  Rebus  Hisp.  lib.  xxi.  cap.  i.  in  Schotti  Hisp.  Illustr. 
torn.  ii.  p.  556. 

t  Florez,  Espana  Sagrada,  torn.  xxii.  p.  108. 


38  HISTORY    OF    THE 

genses  seldom  relaxed  during  the  fourteenth  century. 
Scarce  a  year  passed  in  wiiich  numbers  were  not  bar- 
barously led  to  the  stake. ^  x\mong  those  who  were 
condemned  for  heresy  at  this  period,  was  Arnaldo  of 
Villaneuva  in  Aragon,  a  celebrated  physician  and 
chemist. t  He  taught,  that  the  whole  Christian  peo- 
ple had,  through  the  craft  of  the  devil,  been  drawn 
aside  from  the  truth,  and  retained  nothing  but  the 
semblance  of  ecclesiastical  worship,  which  they  kept 
up  from  the  force  of  custom;  that  those  who  lived  in 
cloisters  threw  themselves  out  of  charity,  and  that  the 
religious  orders  in  general  falsified  the  doctrine  of 
Christ;  that  it  is  not  a  work  of  charity  to  endow  cha- 
pels for  celebrating  masses  for  the  dead;  that  those 
who  devoted  their  money  to  this  purpose,  instead  of 
providing  for  the  poor,  and  especially  the  poor  belong- 
ing to  Christ,  exposed  themselves  to  damnation;  that 
offices  of  mercy  and  medicine  are  more  acceptable  to 
the  Deity  than  the  sacrifice  of  the  altar;  and  that  God 
is  praised  in  the  eucharist  not  by  the  hands  of  the 
priest,  but  by  the  mouth  of  the  communicant.  J  Such 
being  his  avowed  sentiments,  we  need  not  wonder 
that  he  was  doomed  to  expiate  his  temerity  by  suffer- 
ing the  fire,  from  which  he  saved  himself  by  flying 
from  his  native  country,  and  taking  refuge  with  Fer- 
dinand, king  of  Sicily. §  To  Arnald  we  may  add  a 
writer  of  the  following  century,  Raimonde  de  Se- 
bonde,  author  of  a  treatise  on  natural  theology,  who 

»  Llorente,  i.  80—85. 

f  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Vctus.  torn.  ii.  p.  112 — 119.  Niccron,  Mem. 
des  liormncs  lllustrcs,  torn,  xxxiv.  p.  82.  Arnaldo  is  celebrated  among 
those  who  searched  for  the  iV/i7u.so/>/<er's  stona  in  the  following-  lines 
of  the  Libro  del  Tesoro,  an  ancient  poem  ascribed  to  Alfonso  X.  of 
Castile,  surnamcd  The  wise  : 

Pcro  los  modernos  que  le  succdicron, 
Entrc  ellos  Ranald o  da  todos  nombrado 
Camino  non  dcssa,  y  tan  alombrado 
Que  ascuras  so  veen  los  que  no  lo  vieron. 
Sanchez^  Coleccion  de  Poesias  Castellanas,  tom.  i.  p.  IGG. 

t  Bul.fi  Hist.  T^iiiv.  Pari?,  tom.  iv.  p.  121.  MSS.  b}'  Arnald  in 
Cottonian  Library:  Rodriguez  de  Castro,  liibl.  Espan.  tom.  ii.  74.3, 
474. 

§  Antonius,  Bibl.  Ilisp.  Vet.  ii.  114. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  39 

was  charged  with  heresy  for  asserting  that  all  saving 
truths  are  contained,  and  clearly  proposed,  in  the  sa- 
cred Scriptures.* 

From  1412  to  1425,  a  great  number  of  persons  who 
entertained  the  sentiments  of  the  Vaudois  were  com- 
mitted to  the  flames  by  the  inquisitors  of  Valentia, 
Rousillon,  and  Majorca.  It  appears,  that  the  follow- 
ers of  Wickliff'e  had  migrated  to  the  Peninsula ;  for  in 
1441,  the  inquisitors  of  Aragon  and  Valentia  recon- 
ciled some  of  them  to  the  church,  and  condemned 
others  to  the  fire  as  obstinate  heretics.!  If  we  may 
trust  the  monkish  annalists,  Spain  was  also  visited  at 
this  period  by  the  Beghards,  a  fanatical  sect  which 
the  corruptions  of  the  church  and  the  ignorance  of 
the  times  had  generated  in  Germany  and  other  parts 
of  Europe.  But  this  is  uncertain,  as  it  was  common 
for  the  clergy  to  apply  this  and  similar  names  to  the 
Vaudois,  Avith  the  view  of  exciting  odium  against 
them,  and  justifying  their  own  cruelties.  In  1 350,  we 
are  told,  a  warm  inquisition  was  commenced  in  Va- 
lentia against  the  Beghards,  whose  leader  was  con- 
demned to  perpetual  imprisonment,  and  the  bones  of 
many  of  his  disciples  dug  up  and  consigned  to  the 
flames;  and  in  1442,  it  was  found  they  had  multiplied 
at  Durango,  a  town  of  Biscay,  and  in  the  diocese  of 
Calahorra.  Alfonso  de  Mella,  a  Franciscan,  and  bro- 
ther of  the  bishop  of  Zamora,  who  was  afterwards 
invested  with  the  purple,  having  incurred  the  suspi- 
cion of  being  at  the  head  of  this  party,  fled,  along 
with  his  companions,  to  the  Moors,  among  whom  ^'  he 
died  miserably  at  Grenada,  being  pierced  with  reeds; 
an  example,  (says  the  biographer  of  his  brother)  wor- 
thy to  be  recorded,  of  the  variety  of  human  aflairs, 
and  the  opposite  dispositions  of  persons  who  lay  in 
the  same  womb."."!:    On  application  to  John  II.  king 

*  The  Theologia  Naturalis  of  Sebonde  has  met  with  the  approba- 
tion of  Montaigne  and  Grotius;  and,  which  is  not  less  praise,  the 
censure  of  the  Index  Expurgatorius.  (PelHcer,  Ensayo,  p.  15 — 18. 
Cave,  Hist.  Liter.  Append,  p.  104.) 

t  Dr.  Michael  Geddes's  Miscellaneous  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  559.  Llorente, 
i.  92,  93. 

\  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Vet.  torn.  ii.  p.  286.     Mariana,  lib.  xxi.  cap.  17. 


40  HISTORY    OF    THE 

of  Castile,  a  band  of  royal  musqiieteers  Avas  sent  to 
scour  the  mountains  of  Biscay,  and  the  higher  districts 
of  Old  Castile,  who  drove  down  the  heretics  like  cat- 
tle before  them,  and  delivered  them  to  the  inquisitors, 
by  whom  they  were  committed  to  the  flames  at  St. 
Domingo  de  la  Calzado,  and  Valladolid.*  Thus  were 
the  Albigensis,  after  a  barbarous  and  unrelenting  per- 
secution of  two  centuries,  exterminated  in  Spain,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few,  who  contrived  to  conceal  them- 
selves in  the  more  remote  and  inaccessible  parts  of  the 
country,  and  at  a  subsequent  period,  furnished  occa- 
sionally a  straggling  victim  to  the  familiars  of  the  in- 
quisition, when  surfeited  with  the  blood  of  Jews  and 
Moriscoes. 

During  these  proceedings,  Rome  succeeded  in  es- 
tablishing its  empire  a  second  time  in  Spain,  and  that 
in  a  more  durable  form  than  in  the  days  of  the  Scipios 
and  Augustus.  This  conquest  was  achieved  chiefly 
by  means  of  the  monks  and  friars.  Anciently  the 
number  of  convents  and  of  monks  in  Spain  was  small ; 
but  it  multiplied  greatly  from  the  twelfth  to  the  fif- 
teenth century.  The  beginning  of  that  period  was 
marked  by  the  infliction  of  that  scourge  of  society, 
and  outrage  of  all  decency — privileged  and  meritori- 
ous mendicity.  Of  all  the  orders  of  mendicant  friars, 
the  most  devoted  to  the  See  of  Rome  were  those 
founded  by  St.  Dominic  and  St.  Francis,  the  former 
the  most  odious,  the  latter  the  most  frantic,  of  modern 
saints.  Within  a  few  years  after  their  institution, 
convents  belonging  to  both  these  orders  were  to  be 
found  in  every  part  of  Spain.  Though  the  Domini- 
cans, owing  to  the  patronage  of  the  court  of  Rome,  or 
to  their  founder  being  a  Spaniard,  enjoyed  the  great- 
est share  of  political  power,  yet  the  reception  given  to 
the  Franciscans  left  them  no  -ground  to  conq)lain  of 
Spanish  inhospitality.  An  event  which  happened  at 
the  close  of  the  fifteenth  century  contributed  to  the 
still  more  rapid  increase  of  religious  houses.  A  great 
part  of  the  wealth  which  flowed  into  Spain  after  the 

+  Mariana,  lib.  xxi.  cap.  17.     Gcddcs's  Miscellaneous  Tracts,  vol. 
i.  p.  551). 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  41 

discovery  of  the  New  World,  found  its  way  to  the 
church.  Imitating  the  Pagan  warriors  who  dedicated 
the  spoils  which  they  had  gained  to  their  gods,  the 
Spaniards  who  enriched  themselves  by  pillaging  and 
murdering  the  Indians,  sought  to  testify  their  grati- 
tude or  to  expiate  their  crimes  by  lavishing  orna- 
ments on  churches,  and  endowing  monasteries.  The 
following  examples  show  the  rate  at  which  the  regu- 
lar clergy  increased.  The  first  Franciscan  mission- 
aries entered  Spain  in  the  year  1216;  and  in  1400, 
they  had  within  the  three  provinces  of  Santiago,  Cas- 
tile, and  Aragon,  including  Portugal  twenty-three  mis- 
iodise,  composed  of  an  hundred  and  twenty-one  con- 
vents.* But  in  the  year  1506,  the  Regular  Observan- 
tines,  who  formed  only  the  third  division  of  that  or- 
der, had  a  hundred  and  ninety  convents  in  Spain,  ex- 
cluding Portugal.t  In  the  year  1030,  the  city  of  Sa- 
lamanca did  not  contain  a  single  convent;  in  1480,  it 
possessed  nine,  of  which  six  were  for  males,  and  three 
for  females;  and  in  1518,  it  could  number  thirty-nine 
convents,  while  its  nuns  alone  amounted  to  eleven 
thousand.  J 

The  corruption  of  the  monastic  institutions  kept 
pace  with  the  increase  of  their  numbers  and  wealth. 
The  licentiousness  of  the  regular  clergy  became  noto- 
«  rious.  They  broke  through  the  rules  prescribed  by 
their  founders,  and  laid  aside  that  austere  mode  of 
living  by  which  they  had  at  first  acquired  all  their  re- 
putation. §  Even  those  who  had  vowed  the  most  rigid 
poverty,  such  as  the  Observantines,  or  third  order  of 
St.  Francis,  procured  dispensations  from  Rome,  in  vir- 
tue of  which  they  possessed  rents,  and  property  in 
houses  and  lands.  By  the  original  regulations  of  St. 
Francis,  all  belonging  to  his  order  bound  themselves 
to  live  purely  on  alms  and  were  strictly  prohibited 

*  Wadding,  Annales  Minorum  Ordinum,  cura  Jos.  Maria  Fonseca, 
torn.  i.  p.  247—249;   conf.  torn.  ix.  p.  206—210. 

t  Wadding,  torn.  xv.  p.  342—350. 

\  Tovvnsend's  Journey  through  Spain,  vol.  ii.  p.  84. 

§  Petri  Martyris  Anglerii  Epistolae,  ep.  163.  Alvar.  Gomecius,  De 
rebus  gestis  Francisci  Ximenii,  f.  7.  Compluti,  1569.  Wadding, 
Minor.  Ord.  torn.  xv.  p.  108. 

.     4 


42  HISTORY    OF    THE 

from  receiving  any  money,  on  whatever  pretext,  even 
as  wages  for  labour  performed  by  them,  "miless  for 
the  manifest  necessity  of  infirm  brethren."*  The  mo- 
nastic historians  are  greatly  puzzled  to  account  for 
the  glaring  departure  from  this  rule  of  poverty;  pro- 
bably forgetting,  or  not  wishing  to  have  recourse  to 
the  well  known  maxim,  that  nature  abhors  a  vacuum. 
Sometimes  they  wish  to  account  for  it  by  saying  that 
a  destructive  pestilence,  about  the  beginning  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  thinned  the  monasteries,  which 
were  afterwards  filled  with  novices  of  a  more  earthly 
mould. t  But  they  are  forced  to  trace  the  evil  to  a 
more  remote  source,  and  to  impute  it  to  brother  Elias,:}: 
a  native  of  Cortona,  and  vicar-general  of  the  order  of 
Franciscans,  mider  its  founder.  As  early  as  1223,  he 
began  to  hint  to  his  brethren  that  the  rule  prescribed  to 
them  was  a  yoke  Avhich  neither  they  nor  their  succes- 
sors could  bear ;  but  was  silenced  by  the  authority  of 
St.  Francis.  After  the  death  of  the  saint,  he  was  more 
successful  in  gaining  proselytes  to  his  opinion,  and 
drew  upon  himself  the  sentence  of  excommunication, 
from  which  however,  he  was  ultimately  relieved. § 

The  kings  of  Spain  attempted  at  different  times  to 
correct  these  abuses,  but  the  monks  and  friars  had  al- 
ways the  influence  or  the  address  to  defeat  the  mea- 
sure. When  the  glaring  nature  of  the  evil  induced 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  to  renew  the  attempt  at  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  century,  they  were  obliged  to 
employ  force ;  nor  would  their  united  authority  have 
been  sufficient  to  carry  the  point,  had  they  not  availed 
themselves  of  the  sagacity  and  firmness  of  the  cele- 
brated cardinal  Ximenes,  himself  a  friar,  and  inflamed 
with  the  passion  of  restoring  the  order  of  St.  Francis, 
of  wliich  he  was  then  provhicial,  to  all  the  poverty 
and  rigour  of  its  original  institution.    Lorenzo  Vacca, 

*  Reg.  cap.  viii.  ix;  apud  Wadding,  ut  supra,  i.  71. 

t  Fernando  del  Castillo,  Hist.  Gen.  dc  Santo  Domingo,  y  do  su 
Ordcn,  Parte  ii.  lib.  ii.  cap.  2,  3.  Quintanilla,  Vida  del  Cardcnal 
Ximenes,  p,  22. 

t  Quintanilla,  vit  supra. 

§  Wadding  Annalcs.  Minor.  Ord.  tom.  i.  p.  62.  216;  conf.  torn, 
iii.  p.  102. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  43 

abbot  of  the  monastery  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  Segovia, 
relying  on  the  papal  bulls  which  he  had  procured, 
made  such  resistance  to  the  plans  of  his  provincial, 
that  the  government  found  it  necessary  to  commit  him 
to  prison,  from  which  he  escaped,  and  repairing  to 
Rome,  exerted  himself,  through  the  influence  of  As- 
canio  Sforza  and  other  cardinals,  in  counteracting  the 
reform  of  the  religious  orders  in  Spain.*  The  Fran- 
ciscan friars  of  Toledo  carried  their  resistance  so  far, 
that  an  order  was  issued  to  banish  them  from  the 
kingdom;  upon  which  they  left  the  city  in  solenm 
procession,  carrying  a  crucifix  before  them,  and  chaunt- 
ing  the  psalm  which  begins.  When  Israel  went  up 
out  of  Egypt,  &c.t  The  biographers  of  Ximenes  re- 
present him  as  having  reformed  all  the  religious  insti- 
tutions in  Spain;  but  it  is  evident  that  his  success  was 
partial,  and  chiefly  confined  to  his  own  order.  So  far 
as  they  proceeded  on  the  rigid  principles  of  monach- 
ism,  the  regulations  which  he  introduced  were  unna- 
tural and  pernicious,  and  such  of  them  as  were  favour- 
able to  morals  were  soon  swept  away  by  the  increas- 
ing tide  of  corruption. 

It  has  been  said  that  Ximenes  abolished  a  number 
of  superstitious  practices  which  had  crept  into  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Spanish  church  during  the  dark  ages ;  and 
in  proof  of  this  we  are  told  that  he  revived  the  Moza- 
rabic  office,  and  appointed  it  to  be  used  in  all  the 
churches  of  his  diocese.:]:  But  the  writers  who  make 
this  assertion  have  fallen  into  a  mistake,  both  as  to 
what  was  done  by  the  cardinal,  and  as  to  the  object 
he  had  in  view.  Perceiving  that  the  Mozarabic  ser- 
vice had  fallen  into  desuetude  in  the  six  churches  of 
Toledo,  in  which  its  use  had  been  enjoined  by  an  old 
law,§  he  was  desirous  to  preserve  this  venerable  relic 
of  antiquity.  With  this  view  he  employed  Alfonso 
Ortiz,  one  of  the  canons  of  his  cathedral,  to  collate  all 
the  copies  of  that  liturgy  which  could  be  found ;  and, 

*  Martyr,  et  Gomecius,  ut  supra. 

t  De  Robles,  Vida  del  Cardenal  Ximenes,  p.  68. 

\  Gerdesii  Hist.  Reform,  torn.  i.  p.  15. 

§  See  before  p.  26. 


44  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  Gothic  letters  m  which  they  were  written  being 
changed  into  Roman,  he  caused  the  work  to  be  print- 
ed.*    Some  years  .after, t  he  erected  a  chapel  in  the 
cathedral   church,  with  an  endowment  for  thirteen 
priests,  whose  duty  it  was  to  celebrate  the  service  ac- 
cording to  that  liturgy.:]:   There  is  reason  to  think  that 
he  ordered  it  to  be  also  used  on  certain  festivals  in  the 
churches  commonly  called  Mozarabic;  but  it  is  certain 
that  tlie  order  did  not  extend  to  the  other  churches  of 
his  diocese.     So  far  was  it  from  his  intention  to.  make 
any  innovation  on  the  existing  forms  of  worship,  or  to 
supplant  the  Roman  by  the  ancient  Spanish  liturgy, 
that  he  interpolated  his  edition  of  the  latter,  in  order 
to  render  it  more  conformable  to  the  former;  thus  de- 
stroying its  character  and  use  as  an  ancient  document. 
Among  these  interpolations  are  "a  prayer  for  the  ado- 
ration of  the  cross,"  and  offices  for  a  number  of  saints 
who  lived  before  as  well  as  after  the  compilation  of 
the  liturgy.;   for  the   ancient  Gotlis  and  JMozarabes 
commemorated  none  but  martyrs  in  their  public  ser- 
vice.    Ferdinand  de  Talavera,  archbishop  of  Grana- 
da, endowed,  about  the  same  time,  a  chapel  in  Sala- 
manca, in  which  the  service  continued  to  be  celebrated 
according  to  this  ritual  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  § 

It  might  be  presumed,  from  the  statements  already 
made,  and  from  what  we  know  of  other  countries, 

*  The  Mozarabic  Missal  was  printed  at  Toledo  in  the  year  1500. 
(Mendez,  Typogr.  Esp.  p.  307.)  '1  he  Breviary  was  printed  at  the 
same  place  in  the  year  1502.  (Quintanilla,  p.  116.  Arqhivo  Complu- 
tense,  No.  13.) 

t  In  1512. 

t  MarsoUier,  Historic  du  Ministere  du  Cardinal  Ximencs,  torn.  ii. 
p.  42 — 44.  De  Roblcs,  del  Cardenal  Ximene's,  y  Officio  Gotico  Mu- 
zarabe,  p.  302.  In  tl)e  Mozarabic  Missal,  as  published  in  1500,  the 
words  ot"  consecration  in  the  eucharist  are  taken  exactly  from  the 
evangelists.  But  it  was  deemed  dangerous  to  practise  tliis  mode ; 
and  accordingly  tlic  priests  were  provided  with  a  piece  of  paper  on 
the  margin,  containing  the  Roman  form  of  consecration,  which  they 
made  use  of.  (lb.  p.  287,  268.)  By  degrees  the  Mozarabic  form  fell 
into  neglect  in  the  chapel  appropriated  to  it;  and  in  1786,  when 
Townscnd  visited  Toledo,  there  was  none  present  at  the  service  but 
himself  and  the  officiating  priest.     (Travels,  i.  311,  312.) 

§  lUesccs,  Hist.  Pontifical,  torn.  i.  f.  269. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  45 

that  the  Spanish  clergy  had  sunk  very  low  in  point 
of  knowledge,  and  that  the  absurdities  which  one  of 
their  countrymen  afterwards  exposed  so  wittily  in 
Fray  Gurundio,  were  not  less  common  or  less  ridi- 
culous before  the  revival  of  letters.  But  on  this  head 
we  are  not  left  to  conjecture.  In  an  address  to  queen 
Isabella,  cardinal  Ximenes  acknowledges  the  gross 
ignorance  that  prevailed  among  the  priests.*  This 
led  to  the  adoption  of  the  most  absurd  opinions,  and 
the  practice  of  the  most  extravagant  superstitions. 
Legends  and  lives  of  saints  formed  the  favourite  read- 
ing of  the  devout,  while  the  vulger  fed  on  the  stories 
of  every-day  miracles  which  the  priests  and  friars 
ministered  fresh  to  their  credulity.  The  doctrine  of 
the  immaculate  conception  of  the  Virgin  met  with 
believers  in  other  countries;  but  Spain  could  boast  of 
an  order  of  nuns  consecrated  to  the  honour  of  that 
newly-invented  mystery.t  The  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation,  which  many  even  at  that  period  could  not 
digest,  without  difficulty,  was  no  trial  of  faith  to  a 
Spaniard.  "  Do  you  believe  that  this  wafer  is  the 
body  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost?"  was  the 
question  which  the  parish  priests  of  Valencia,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  were  accustomed  to  put  to  dying 
persons ;  and  on  obtaining  an  affirmative  answer,  they 
administered  the  host.  Another  attempt  to  extend 
the  mysterious  process  a  little  further  met  with  great- 
er opposition.  Eimeric,  the  author  of  the  celebrated 
Guide  to" Inquisitors^  wrote  against  Bonet  ^and  Mai- 
ron,  who  maintained  that  St.  John  the  Evangelist  be- 
came the -real  son  of  the  Virgin,  in  consequence  of 
his  body  being  transubstantiated  into  that  of  Christ, 
by  the  words  pronounced  on  the  cross,  Ecce  filius 
tuus,  Behold  thy  son.X 

*  Quintanilla,  p.  21. 

t  Ibid.  p.  29—32. 

I  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Vet.  torn.  ii.  p.  187, 188, 


46  HISTORY    OF    THE 


CHAPTER  II. 

OP    "nrc  STATE  OF   UTERATURE  IN  SPAIN  BEFORE  THE    ERA  OF    THE 
REFORMATION. 

Having  taken  a  general  survey  of  the  state  of  reli- 
gion in  Spain  before  the  Reformation,  let  us  look 
back  for  a  little  and  trace  the  restoration  of  letters, 
which  opened  the  prospect  of  a  better  order  of  things 
in  that  country.  The  learning  of  Isidore,  archbishop 
of  Seville,  who  flourished  in  the  seventh  century,  and, 
next  to  St.  James,  is  venerated  by  the  Spaniards  as  a 
tutelary  saint,  rests  on  a  better  foundation  than  the 
encomium  of  Gregory  the  Great,  who  called  him  a  se- 
cond Daniel.  Besides  various  theological  and  histori- 
cal treatises,*  he  composed  a  work  on  etymology, 
which  though  disfigured  by  errors,  discovers  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  philological  knowledge  and  con- 
tributed to  check  the  barbarism  which  had  already 
invaded  every  countiy  in  Europe.  But  ages  of  dark- 
ness succeeded,  during  which  while  the  name  of  St. 
Isidore  was  held  in  veneration,  his  works  were  dis- 
regarded, by  an  ignorant  priesthood,  into  whose  hands 
the  key  of  knowledge  had  fallen. 

It  is  not  to  the  credit  of  Christianity  or  at  least  of 
those  who  professed  it,  that  during  the  middle  ages,  let- 
ters were  preserved  from  extinction,  and  even  revived 
from  the  decline  which  had  seized  them,  by  the  exer- 
tions of  the  followers  of  Mahomet.  The  tenth  cen- 
tury, which  has  been  denominated  the  leaden  age  of 
Europe,  was  the  golden  age  of  Asia.  Modern  wri- 
ters have  perhaps  gone  to  an  extreme  on  both  sides 
in  forming  their  estimate  of  the  degree  in  which  Eu- 
ropean literature  is  indebted  to  the  Arabians.  But 
when  we  find  that  this  people  have  such  evident 
marks  of  their  language  upon  that  of  Spain,  it  seems 
unreasonable  to  doubt  that  they  had  also  great  influ- 

*  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Vet  torn.  i.  p.  330—336.     Rodriguez  de  Cas- 
tro, Bibl.  Espan.  torn.  ii.  p.  293—344. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  47 

ence  upon  its  literature.  Cordova,  Granada,  and  Se- 
ville, rivalled  one  another  in  the  magnificence  of  their 
schools  and  libraries,  during  the  empire  of  the  Sara- 
cens who  granted  to  the  Spanish  Christians,  whom 
they  had  subjugated,  that  protection  in  their  religious 
rights  which  the  latter  were  far  from  imitating  when 
they  in  their  turn  became  the  conquerors.*  The  two 
languages  were  spoken  in  common.t  The  Christians 
began  to  vie  with  their  masters  in  the  pursuit  of 
science,  composed  commentaries  on  the  Scriptures  in 
Arabic,  and  transfused  the  beauties  of  eastern  poetry 
into  the  Castilian  language.  J  It  is  even  said,  that  a 
bishop  of  Seville,  at  this  early  period,  translated  the 
Scriptures  into  the  Arabic  tongue.  § 

If  the  Spanish  language  was  in  danger  of  suffering 
from  the  predominance  of  the  Arabians,  the  evil  was 
counteracted  by  the  cultivation  of  Provencal  poetry. 
In  the  twelfth  century,  Alfonso  II.  of  Aragon,  whose 
name  has  an  honourable  place  among  the  Trouba- 
dours, zealously  patronised  those  who  wrote  in  the 
Catalonian  or  Valencian  dialect.  ||  In  the  subsequent 
century,  Alfonso  X.  of  Castile,  surnamed  the  Wise, 
showed  himself  equally  zealous  in  encouraging  the 
study  of  the  Castilian  tongue,  in  which  he  wrote  se- 
veral poems;  at  the  same  time  that  he  extracted  the 

*  Marc.  Hisp.  lib.  iii.  cap.  2. 

t  Alvaro  de  Cordova,  who  lived  about  the  year  860,  complains  that 
his  countrymen  "despised  the  full  streams  of  the  church  which  flow- 
ed from  Paradise,  and,  adopting-  the  Arabic,  had  lost  their  native 
tong-ue,  and  many  of  them  their  faith  along  with  it."  (Aldrede,  Ori- 
g-enes  de  la  Lengua  Castellana,  lib.  i.  cap.  22.) 

t  Aldrede,  ut  supra.  Casiri,  Bibl.  Arabico-Hisp.  Escurial.  torn, 
i.  p.  38.  Antonii  13ibl.  Hisp.  Vet.  torn.  i.  p.  483.  A  more  recent 
Spanish  writer,  with  a  national  partiality  rather  glaring,  says,  that 
his  countrymen  carried  away  all  that  is  good  in  Arabian  literature, 
while  the  other  nations  of  Europe  took  what  is  bad  in  it — its  dialec- 
tic subtleties  and  sophistry.  "  En  resolution,  de  lo  bueno  y  malo 
que  contenia  la  literatura  Arabe,  los  Christianos  de  Espana  tomaron  lo 
bueno  y  litil,  y  conservaron  el  decoro  de  las  disciplinas  que  aquella 

no  conocia Los  extrangeros,  tomando  lo  malo  del  saber  Arabe, 

pervertiendolo  mas  y  mas,"  &,c.  (Juan  Pablo  Forner,  Oracion  Apo- 
logetica  por  la  Espana,  y  su  merito  Literario,  p.  62.    Madrid,  1786.) 

§  Marc.  Hisp.  lib.  iii.  cap.  2. 

II  Sanchez,  Collcccion,  tom.  i.  p.  74. 


4S  HISTORY    OF    THE 

knowledge  which  was  to  be  found  in  the  books  of  the 
Arabians;  as  appears,  among  other  proofs,  from  the 
astronomical  tables  called  from  him  Alphonsine.*  The 
writings  of  Dante,  Checo  Dascoli,  and  Petrarch,  gave 
a  new  impulse  to  the  literature  of  Spain.  From  this  pe- 
riod the  study  of  the  ancient  classics  imparted  greater 
purity  and  elevation  to  works  of  imagination ;  and  a 
taste  for  poetical  compositions  in  their  native  tongue 
began  to  be  felt  by  the  Spanish  gentry,  who  had  hith- 
erto found  their  sole  pastime  in  arms  and  military 
tournaments.t  Among  those  who  distinguished  them- 
selves by  improving  the  taste  of  their  countrymen  in 
the  first  part  of  the  fifteenth  century,  were  two  per- 
sons of  illustrious  birth,  in  whose  families  the  love  of 
learning  was  long  hereditary.  Henry  of  Aragon, 
marquis  'of  Villena  descended  from  the  royal  houses 
of  Aragon  and  Castile,  revived  the  Consistoy^io  de  la 
Gay  a  Sciencia,  an  academy  instituted  at  Barcelona 
for  the  encouragemet  of  poetry,  of  which  he  was  the 
president.  His  superior  knowledge,  combined  per- 
haps with  a  portion  of  that  learned  credulity  of  which 
those  who  addicted  themselves  to  astronomy  and  ex- 
perimental science  during  the  middle  ages  were  often 
the  dupes,  brought  on  him  the  suspicion  of  necro- 
mancy. In  consequence  of  this,  his  books  were  seiz- 
ed after  his  death,  by  the  orders  of  Juan  H.  king  of 
Castile,  and  sent  for  examination  to  Lope  de  Barrien- 
tos,  a  Dominican  monk  of  considerable  learning,  and 
preceptor  to  the  prince  of  Asturias.  "f^arrientos," 
says  a  contemporary  writer,  "liking  better  to  walk 
with  the  prince  than  to  revise  necromancies,  commit- 
ted to  the  flames  upwards  of  a  hundred  volumes, 
without  having  examined  them  any  more  than  the 
king  of  Morocco,  or  understood  a  jot  of  their  contents 
more  than  the  dean  of  Ciudad  Rodrigo.  There  are 
many  in  the  present  day,"  continues  he,  "  who  be- 
come learned  men,  by  pronouncing  others  fools  and 

*  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Vet.  torn.  ii.  p.  78 — 87.  An  account  of  his 
poem  Del  Tesoro,  with  specimens,  may  be  seen  in  Sanchez,  Colec- 
cion,  torn.  i.  p.  148 — IGO.  Extracts  from  his  other  poems  arc  given 
by  Rodriguez  dc  Castro,  Bibl.  Kspanola,  torn,  ii,  p.  (j'^5 — 612. 

t  Zurita,  Annales,  ad.  an.  1398. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  49 

magicians :  and  what  is  worse,  make  themselves 
saints,  by  stigmatizing  others  as  sorcerers."  This  in- 
dignity done  to  the  memory  of  "  the  ornament  of 
Spain  and  of  the  age,"  was  bewailed,  both  in  verse 
and  prose  by  writers  of  that  time.* 

Equally  learned  as  Villena,  but  more  fortunate  in 
preserving  his  good  name  and  his  books,  was  Inigo 
Lopez  de  Mendoza,  marquis  of  Santillana,  who,  in  a 
treatise,  intended  as  a  preface  to  his  own  poetical 
works,  has  acted  the  part  of  historian  to  his  country- 
men who  preceded  him  in  paying  court  to  the  muse.t 
The  merits  of  both  marquises  have  been  celebrated  by 
the  pen  of  Juan  de  Mena,  unquestionably  the  first 
Spanish  poet  of  that  age. 

It  is  not  unworthy  of  remark  here,  that  the  Jews, 
while  they  enjoyed  protection  in  Spain,  co-operated 
with  the  Christians  in  the  cultivation  of  polite  letters. 
Rabbi  Don  Santo,  who  flourished  about  the  year  1360, 
makes  the  following  modest  and  not  inelegant  apolo- 
gy for  taking  his  place  among  the  poets  of  the  land 
which  had  given  him  birth: — 

The  rose  that  twines  a  thorny  sprig-, 

Will  not  the  less  perfume  the  earth  ; 
Good  wine,  that  leaves  a  creeping  twig, 

Is  not  the  worse  for  humble  birth. 
The  havrk  may  be  of  noble  kind, 

That  from  a  filthy  aiery  flew  ; 
And  precepts  are  not  less  refined, 

Because  they  issue  from  a  Jew.t 

*  Sanchez,  Coleccion,  tom.  i.  p.  5-10.  Ferdinandi  Gomesii  Epis- 
tolse,  apud  Antonii  Bibl.  ut  supra,  p.  220-222. 

t  Sanchez  has  given  a  life  of  tills  nobleman,  along  with  his  "  Pro- 
emio  al  Condestable  de  Portugal,"  illustrated  with  learned  notes,  in 
the  first  volume  of  his  collection  of  ancient  Castilian  poets. 

t  Por  nascer  en  espino 
La  roso,  ya  non  siento 
Que  pierde,  ni  el  buen  vino 
Por  salir  del  sarmiento. 

Nin  vale  el  azor  menos, 
Porque  en  vil  nido  siga; 
Nin  los  enxemplos  buenos, 
Porque  Judio  los  diga. 
Rodriguez  de  Castro  supposed  Don  Santo  to  have  been  a  converted 
Jew.  (Bibl.  Espanola,  tom.  i.  p.  198.)    But  his  mistake  has  been  cor- 


50  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Long  after  their  expulsion  from  Spain,  the  Jews 
cherislicd  an  ardent  attachment  to  the  CastiUan 
tongue,  in  whicli  they  continued  to  compose  works 
both  in  prose  and  verse.* 

On  looking  into  the  writings  of  the  ancient  Spanish 
poets  we  are  induced  to  conclude,  that  they  were  not 
in  the  habit  of  using  those  liberties  with  the  church 
and  clergy  which  were  indulged  in  by  the  poets  of 
Italy  and  the  Troubadours  of  Provence.  There  is 
reason  however  to  think,  that  the  absence  of  these  sa- 
tires is  to  be  accounted  for,  in  no  small  degree,  by  the 
prudence  of  the  editors  of  their  works,  and  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  censors  of  the  press,  after  the  invention  of 
printing.  Accordingly,  of  later  years,  since  the  seve- 
rity of  the  Inquisition  relaxed,  and  a  passion  to  do 
justice  to  their  literary  antiquities  has  been  felt  by  the 
Spaniards,  poems  have  been  brought  to  the  light, 
though  still  with  much  caution,t  which  two  centu- 
ries ago  would  have  earned  for  their  learned  editors 
a  perpetual  prison.  The  poems  of  Juan  Ruiz,  arch- 
priest  of  Hita,  who  flourished  in  the  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  contain  severe  satires  on  the  ava- 
rice and  loose  manners  of  the  clergy.  He  represents 
money  as  opening  the  gates  of  Paradise,  purchasing 
salvation  to  the  people,  and  benefices  to  priests;  as 
equally  powerful  at  the  court  of  Rome  and  elsewhere, 
with  the  pope  and  with  all  orders  of  the  clergy,  secu- 
lar and  regular;  as  converting  a  lie  into  the  truth,  and 
the  truth  into  a  lie.  J     In  another  poem  he  is  as  severe 

rcctcd,  and  its  source  pointed  out,  by  Sanchez.  (Colcccion  de  Pocsias 
Castellanas,  torn.  iv.  p.  xii.  conf.  torn.  i.  p.  179-184.)  Juan  AUbnso 
Bacna,  a  converted  Jew,  who  flourished  in  the  beginning  of  the  fif- 
teenth century,  made  a  very  curious  collection  of  the  poems  of  the 
Trohadores  Espanoles,  including  his  own,  from  which  Rodriguez  do 
Castro  has  given  copious  extracts.  (Bibl.  Esp.  torn.  i.  p.  265-345.) 

*  Wolfius  has  given  many  examples  of  this  in  his  Bihliotheca  He- 
br(Ba.  See  also  Rodr.  de  Castro,  Escritores  Rahinos  Espanoles  del 
Siglo  xvii.  passim. 

t  See  the  apologctical  notes  of  Sanchez  to  his  collection  of  early 
Castilian  poems,  particularly  tom.  iv.  p.  76,  119,  199. 

\  The  following  is  the  description,  which  Sanchez  calls  "  a  false 
and  extravagant  satire :" 

Si  tovieres  dineros  habras  consolacion, 
Plascr,  e  alegria,  del  Papa  racion, 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  51 

against  the  manners  of  the  clergy,  whom  he  describes 
as  Uving  avowedly  in  concubinage.  He  represents 
Don  Gil  de  Albornoz,  archbishop  of  Talavera,  as  hav- 
ing procured  a  mandate  from  the  pope,  ordering  all 
his  clergy  to  put  away  the  wives  or  concubines 
whom  they  kept  in  their  houses,  under  the  pain  of 
excommunication.  When  this  mandate  was  read  to 
them  in  a  public  assembly,  it  excited  a  warm  opposi- 
tion; violent  speeches  were  made  against  it  by  the 
dean  and  others ;  some  of  them  declared  that  they 
would  sooner  part  with  their  dignities;  and  it  was 
finally  agreed  that  they  should  appeal  from  the  pope 
to  the  king  of  Castile.* 

About  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century,  litera- 
ture was  advanced  under  the  patronage  of  Alfonso  V. 
of  Aragon.  The  education  of  this  monarch  had  been 
neglected,  and  the  early  part  of  his  life  was  spent  in 
arms;  but  at  fifty  years  of  age  he  applied  himself  to 
study  with  such  eagerness  that  he  was  soon  able  to 
read  with  ease  the  Roman  classics,  which  became  his 

Compraras  paraiso,  ganaras  salvacion, 

Do  son  muchos  dineros,  es  mucha  bendicion. 

Yo  vi  en  corte  de  Roma,  do  es  la  santidat, 
Que  todos  al  dinero  fasen  grand  homilidat, 
Grand  honra  le  fascian  con  grand  solenidat, 
Todos  a  el  se  homillan  como  a  la  magestat. 

Fasie  muchos  Priores,  Obispos,  et  Abades, 
Arzobispos,  Doctores,  Patriarcas,  Potestades, 
A  muchos  Clerigos  nescios  dabales  dinidades, 
Fasie  de  verdat  mentiras,  et  de  mentiras  verdades. 

Fasia  muchos  Clerigos  e  muchos  ordenados, 
Muchos  monges,  6  monjas,  religiosos  sagrados. 
El  dinero  los  daba  por  bien  exa,minados, 
A  los  pobres  desian,  que  non  eran  letrados. 

Coleccion,  torn.  iv.  p.  76,  77. 

*  Cartas  eran  venidas,  que  disen  en  esta  manera : 
Que  Clerigo  nin  casado  de  toda  Talavera, 
Que  non  toviese  manceba  cacasada  nin  soltera, 

Qualquier  que  la  toviese,  descomulgado  era. 

■*  »  *  * 

Pero  non  alonguemos  atanto  las  rasones, 
Apellaron  los  Clerigos,  otro  si  los  Clerisones, 
Fesieron  luego  de  mano  buenas  apelaciones, 
Et  dende  en  adelante  ciertas  procuraciones. 

Coleccion,  torn.  iv.  p.  280, 283. 


52  HISTORY    OF    THE    . 

constant  companions.  He  disputed  with  the  house  of 
Medici  the  honour  of  entertaining  men  of  letters,  and 
rescuing  the  writings  of  antiquity  from  obHvion.  When 
he  had  taken  a  town,  his  soldiers  could  not  do  the 
prince  a  greater  pleasure  than  to  bring  him  a  book 
which  they  had  discovered  among  the  spoils;  and 
Cosmo  de'  Medici,  by  the  present  of  an  ancient  ma- 
nuscript, procured  from  him  a  treaty  highly  favoura- 
ble to  Florence.  Anthony  of  Palermo,  usually  styled 
Panormitanus,  who  wrote  the  history  of  his  life,  resi- 
ded at  his  court  in  great  honour;  and  Laurentius 
Valla,  one  of  the  most  profound  and  elegant  scholars 
of  that  age,*  when  persecuted  for  the  freedom  of  his 
opinions,  was  protected  by  Alfonso  at  Naples,  where 
he  opened  a  school  for  Greek  and  Roman  eloquence. t 
Alfonso  de  Palencia,  having  visited  Italy,  became 
acquainted  with  cardinal  Bessarion,  and  attended  the 
lectures  which  the  learned  Greek  Trapezuntius  de- 
livered on  eloquence  and  his  native  tongue.  On  his 
return  to  Spain,  he  was  made  historiographer  to  Hen- 
ry IV.  of  Castile,  and  afterwards  to  queen  Isabella; 
and  by  his  translations  from  Greek  into  the  Castilian 
language,  as  well  as  by  a  work  on  grammar,  excited 
a  taste  for  letters  among  his  countrymen. J  He  was 
followed  by  Antonio  de  Lebrixa,  usually  styled  Ne- 
brissensis,  who  became  to  Spain  what  Valla  was  to 
Italy,  Erasmus  to  Germany,  and  Bude  to  France. 
After  a  residence  of  ten  years  in  Italy,  during  which 
he  had  stored  his  mind  with  various  kinds  of  know- 
ledge, he  returned  home  in  1473,  by  the  advice  of  the 
younger  Philelphus  and  Hermolaus  Barbarus,  with  the 

*  History  of  the  Progress  and  Suppression  of  the  Reformation  in 
Italy,  p.  15,  48. 

t  Gingucnc,  Hist.  Lit.  d'  Italic,  torn.  iii.  p.  348,  349.  Antonii  Bibl. 
Hisf).  Vet.  torn.  ii.  p.  271,  272.  From  Valla's  Dedication  of  one  of  his 
treatises  to  Alfonso,  it  appears  that  they  were  in  the  habit  of  corres- 
ponding on  classical  subjects.  (Laur.  Vallce  Opera,  p.  433-445.) 
Valla  has  also  paid  a  compliment  to  the  early  military  talents  of  his 
patron,  in  his  work  De  Rebus  Ferdinandi  Arogonine  Regc  gestis  ; 
published  in  the  second  volume  of  Rerum  Hispaniarum  Scriptores. 
Franc.  1509. 

t  Pellicer,  Ensayo,  p.  7-13.  Antonius,  Bibl.  Hisp.  Vet.  ii.  333. 
Mendez.  Typ.  Espanola,  p.  173-175,  180-182,  189. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  53 

view  of  promoting  classical  learning  in  his  native  coun- 
try. Hitherto  the  revival  of  letters  in  Spain  was  con- 
fined to  a  few  inquisitive  individuals,  and  had  not 
reached  the  schools  and  universities,  whose  teachers 
continued  to  teach  a  barbarous  jargon,  under  the  name 
of  Latin,  into  which  they  initiated  the  youth  by  means 
of  a  rude  system  of  grammar,  rendered  unintelligible, 
in  some  instances,  by  a  preposterous  intermixture  of 
the  most  abstruse  questions  in  metaphysics.*  By  the 
lectures  which  he  read  in  the  Universities  of  Seville, 
Salamanca,  and  Alcala,  and  by  the  institutes  which 
he  published  on  Castilian,  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew 
grammar,  Lebrixa  contributed  in  a  wonderful  degree 
to  expel  barbarism  from  the  seats  of  education,  and  to 
diffuse  a  taste  for  elegant  and  useful  studies  among 
his  €ountrymen.t  His  improvements  were  warmly 
opposed  by  the  monks,  who  had  engrossed  the  art  of 
teaching,  and  who,  unable  to  bear  the  light  themselves, 
wished  to  prevent  all  others  from  seeing  it;  but  en- 
joying the  support  of  persons  of  high  authority,  he 
disregarded  their  selfish  and  ignorant  outcries. :j:  Le- 
brixa continued,  to  an  advanced  age,  to  support  the 
literary  reputation  of  his  native  country. §  During  his 

*  Mayans,  Specimen  Bibl.  Hisp.  Majansianse,  p.  39. 

t  lb.  p.  4.  Mendez,  p.  233-235,  239,  243,  271,  280.  Antonius, 
Bibl.  Hisp.  Nova,  i.  132-138.  Argensola,  Anales  de  Aragon,  p. 
358.  Among  the  first  scholars  trained  under  Lebrixa  were  Andres 
de  Cerezo,  or  Gutierez,  the  author  of  a  Latin  grammar,  and  Fernan- 
do Manzanares  Flores,  who  was  regarded  as  excelling  his  master  in 
purity  of  style.  (Mendez,  275,  278.  Ignatius  de  Asso,  De  Libr. 
Hisp.  Rar.  Disquis.  p.  23,  47.     Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nov.  i.  74,  379.) 

X  Lebrixa  refers  to  the  opposition  he  had  met  with,  in  the  dedica- 
tory epistle  to  the  second  edition  of  his  Introductiones  Latinae,  print- 
ed in  1482. 

§  "  Tiie  cultivation  of  languages  and  polite  letters  has  given  celeb- 
rity to  the  university  of  Alcala,  whose  principal  ornament  is  that  il- 
lustrious and  truly  worthy  old  man,  Anthony  of  Lebrixa,  who  has 
outstripped  many  Nestors;"  says  Erasmus,  in  a  letter  toVives.  Le- 
brixa, in  his  old  age,  was  permitted,  on  account  of  the  failure  of  his 
memory,  to  read  his  lectures,  contrary  to  the  universal  custom  at  that 
period.  After  his  death,  which  was  caused  by  apoplexy,  the  person 
who  preached  his.  funeral  sermon  ventured  to  imitate  his  example, 
for  which  he  pleaded  as  an  apology  the  shortness  of  time  allowed 
him  for  preparation;  but  the  audience  no  sooner  saw  the  paper  than 
they  burst  into  expressions  of  ridicule  and  disapprobation.    "  Parecio 


54  HISTORY    OF    THE 

residence  at  Salamanca,  he  Avas  joined  by  three  able 
coadjutors.  The  first  was  Arius  Barbosa,  a  Portu- 
guese, who  had  studied  under  the  elegant  Italian 
scholar,  Angelo  Politiano,  and  was  equally  skilled  in 
Greek  as  Lebrixa  was  in  Latin.*  The  second  was 
Lucio  Marineo,  a  native  of  Sicily,  who,  in  1485,  ac- 
companied the  grand  admiral  of  Castile  into  Spain, 
and  began  to  read  lectures  on  poetry.t  The  third  was 
Peter  Martyr  of  Anghiera,  to  whose  letters  we  are  in- 
debted for  some  interesting  particulars  respecting  the 
state  of  literature  in  Spain,  along  with  much  valuable 
information  on  the  political  transactions  of  that  coun- 
try, and  the  affairs  of  the  New  World.  In  1488,  he 
was  persuaded  to  leave  Italy  by  the  conde  de  Tendil- 
la,  who  inherited  that  love  of  letters  which  had  dis- 
tinguished his  illustrious  ancestor,  the  marquis  of  San- 
tillana.  Martyr  commenced  his  literary  career  in 
Spain,  by  reading,  with  great  applause,  a  lecture  on 
one  of  the  satires  of  Juvenal,  at  Salamanca;  but  he 
was  soon  called  from  that  station  to  an  employment 
'  of  higher  responsibility,  for  which  he  was  eminently 
qualified.  Under  the  patronage,  and  at  the  earnest 
desire  of  queen  Isabella,  who  had  herself  taken  les- 
sons from  Lebrixa,  he  undertook  to  superintend  the 
education  of  the  sons  of  the  principal  nobility,  with 
the  view  of  rooting  out  an  opinion  almost  universally 
prevalent  among  persons  of  that  order  in  Spain,  that 
learning  unfitted  them  for  military  aftairs,  in  which 
they  placed  all  their  glory.  The  school  was  accord- 
ingly opened  at  court,  not  without  a  flattering  pros- 
pect of  success.  But  Spain  was  destined  to  exhaust 
her  energies  in  gratifying  the  mad  ambition  for  con- 
quest of  a  succession  of  princes,  and  then  to  sink  into 
inactivity  under  the  benumbing  influence  of  supersti- 
tion and  despotism.     Finding  the  prejudice  against 

tan  mal  al  auditorio  csta  manicra  dc  predicar  por  escrito,  y  con  el 
papcl  en  la  mano,  que  todo  fuu  sonreyr  y  niurmurar."  (Huarte,  Ex- 
amen  dc  Ingcnios,  p.  182.) 

*  Martyris  Epist,  cp.  68.  Anton,  ut  supra,  i.  170.  Irving's  Me- 
moirs of  the  Life  and  Writings  of  Buchanan,  p.  77.  2d  edit. 

t  Mongitore,  Bibl.  Sicula,  ii.  16-18.     Martyris  Epist.  cp.  57. 


REFORMATION    IN     SPAIN.  55 

education,  in  the  minds  of  his  pupils,  more  inveterate 
than  he  had  anticipated.  Martyr  accepted  of  a  poUti- 
cal  appointment ;  and  the  plan  for  inspiring  the  nobili- 
ty with  the  love  of  polite  letters,  was  abandoned  soon 
after  it  had  been  begun  under  such  good  auspices.* 

In  the  mean  time,  the  passion  for  learning  spread 
from  Salamanca  to  the  other  universities  of  the  king- 
dom. In  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
Francisco  Ximenes,  at  that  time  archbishop  of  Toledo, 
restored  and  enlarged  the  university  of  Alcala  de  He- 
nares,  in  Avhich  he  founded  a  trilingual  college.  To 
acquire  celebrity  to  his  favourite  institution  he  procu- 
red learned  teachers  to  fill  its  chairs,  among  whom 
were  Demetrius  Ducas  and  Nicetas  Phaustus,  two  na- 
tives of  Greece,!  and  Fernando  Nunez,  a  descendent 
of  the  noble  house  of  Guzman.  The  latter,  who  had 
sacrificed  his  prospect  of  civil  honours  to  the  love  of 
study,  was  inferior  to  none  of  his  learned  countrymen, 
and  has  left  behind  him  a  name  in  the  republic  of 
letters.  J 

Living  in  the  midst  of  Jews  and  Moors,  and  fre- 
quently engaged  in  controversy  with  them  on  their 
respective  creeds,  the  Christians  in  Spain  had  better 
opportunities  and  a  more  powerful  stimulus  to  study 
the  oriental  longuages,  than  their  brethren  in  other 
parts  of  Europe.     About  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth 

*  Martyris  Epist.  ep.  102,  103,  113,  115,  205. 

t  Gomez,  Vita  Ximenii,  f.  37,  b.  81,  b.  Hodius  de  Grsscis  lUus- 
tribus,  p.  321. 

t  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nova,  i.  382.  Nunez  was  of  the  order  of  St. 
•lago,  and  was  commonly  called,  among  his  countrymen,  "the  Greek 
commendator."  (Argensola,  Anales  de  Aragon,  p.  352.)  His  notes 
on  the  classics  are  praised  by  Lipsius,  Gronovius,  and  other  critics, 
who  usually  cite  him  by  the  name  of  Pincianus,  from  Valladolid,  his 
native  city.  That  he  did  not  confine  his  attention  to  ancient  learn- 
ing appears  from  his  having  published,  in  1502,  an  edition  of  the 
poems  of  his  countryman  Juan  de  Mena,  with  notes.  Cyprian  de 
Valera  quotes  from  a  collection  of  Spanish  proverbs  published  by  him 
under  the  title  of  Refranes  Espanoles.  (Dos  Tratados,  p.  288.)  Ma- 
rineo  extols  the  erudition  of  Nunez  as  far  superior  to  that  of  Lebrixa; 
but,  in  the  first  place,  he  expresses  this  opinion  in  a  letter  to  the  object 
of  his  panegyric;  and,  in  the  second  place,  he  had  been  involved  in  a 
quarrel  with  Lebrixa,  in  which  his  countryman,  Peter  Martyr,  was 
not  disposed  to  take  his  part.     (Martyris  Epist.  ep.  35.) 


56  HISTORY    OF    THE 

century,  Raymond  de  Perinaforte,  general  of  the  Do- 
minicans, persuaded  Juan  L  king  of  Aragon,  to  ap- 
propriate funds  for  the  education  of  young  men  who 
might  be  quahfied  foi  entering  the  hsts  in  argument 
with  Jews  and  Mahometans.*  And  in  1259  it  was 
appointed,  at  a  general  chapter  of  the  Dominicans 
held  in  Valencia,  that  the  prior  of  that  order  in  Spain 
should  see  to  the  erection  of  a  school  for  Arabic,  at 
Barcelona  or  elsewhere. t  From  this  school  proceeded 
several  individuals  who  distinguished  themselves  as 
disputants,  both  orally  and  by  writing.  Among  the 
latter  was  Raymond  Martini,  the  author  of  Pugio 
Fidei,  or  Poignard  of  the  Faith  against  Jews  and 
Moors ;  a  work  which  discovers  lio  contemptible  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Hebrew  language,  and  with  the 
Rabbinical  writings,  which  it  quotes  and  comments 
upon  in  the  original.  ±  To  the  attention  .paid  to  the 
oriental  tongues  in  Spain  may  be  traced  the  decree  of 
the  council  of  Vienne,  held  under  pope  Clement  V.  in 
the  year  1-311,  which  ordained  that  Hebrew,  Chaldee, 
and  Arabic,  should  be  taught  in  whatever  place  the 

*  Carpzov.  Introd.  in  Theologiam  Judaicam,  p.  91,  97,98;  Prffifix. 
Pugioni  Fidei.  H.  de  Porta,  de  Linguis  Orient,  p.  GO.  Juan  I.  is 
said  to  have  created  two  schools  for  Arabic;  one  in  the  island  of  Ma- 
jorca, and  the  other  at  Barcelona.  (History  of  the  Expulsion  of  the 
Moriscoes  from  Spain,  in  Geddes's  Miscell.  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  30.) 

t  Simon,  Lettres  Choisies,  torn,  iii.' p.  112.  According  to  another 
authority,  this  decree  was  first  made  in  a  chapter  held  at  Toledo  in 
1250.     (Diago,  Cronica  Domin.  Aragon.  lib.  i.  cap.  2.  lib.  ii.  cap.  28.) 

X  The  work  was  composed  in  1278.  (Pugio  Fidei.  part  ii.  cap.  10. 
§  I.  p.  395.  edit.  Carpzovii.)  Its  fate  is  curious.  Porchct,  a  converted 
Jew  in  the  14th  century,  transcribed  a  great  part  of  it  into  a  work 
which  he  composed  under  the  title  of  Victoria  adversus  Hehraeos, 
which  was  printed  in  1520.  He  acknowledged  his  obligations  to 
Martini;  an  act  of  justice  which  was  not  done  him  by  Galatinus, 
V(ho  used  the  game  liberties  in  his  Arcana  Cutholicae  Veritatis,  print- 
ed in  1513.  De  Porta  says  that  Galatinus,  when  he  departs  from  the 
Pugio,  copies  almost  verbally  from  the  Capistriim. or  Noose,  (apothcr 
work  of  Martini,)  as  lie  found  by  consulting  a  MS.  Copy  of  the  last- 
named  book  in  the  library  of  Bologna.  (De  Linguis  Orii-nt.  p.  62.) 
The  plagiarism  of  Galatinus  was  first  detected  in  1G03  by  Joseph 
Sealigcr,  who  however  confounded  Raymond  Martini  with  Raymond 
Sebondc.  'J  he  Pu<rio  Fidei  was  at  last  publislicd  entire  in  1651, 
with  learned  annotations^  by  Joseph  de  Voisin,  and  elegantly  rej)rint- 
cd  in  1687,  under  the  care  of  Jolin  Benedict  Carpzov,  who  prcfi.Kcd 
to  it  an  introduction  to  Jewish  tiieology. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  57 

pontifical  court  might  be  held,  and  in  the  universities 
of  Bologna,  Paris,  Oxford,  and  Salamanca.* 

The  ardour  with  which  these  studies  were  prosecu- 
ted during  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  led 
to  tlie  publication  of  the  famous  Complutensian  Poly- 
glot. This  chef  dfoeuvre  of  Spanish  erudition  was 
executed  under  the  patronage  and  at  the  expense  of 
cardinal  Ximenes,  then  archbishop  of  Toledo ;  a  pre- 
late whose  pretensions  to  learning  were  slender,!  but 
whose  ambition  prompted  him  to  seek  distinction 
equally  in  the  convent,  the  academy,  the  cabinet,  and 
the  field.  In  imitation  of  the  celebrated  Origen,  he 
projected  an  edition  of  the  Bible  in  various  languages, 
and  expended  large  sums  of  money  in  supporting 
the  learned  men  who  were  engaged  in  the  underta- 
king, purchasing  manuscripts  for  their  use,  and  provi- 
ding the  requisite  printers  and  types.  The  work  com- 
menced in  the  year  1502,  and  the  printing  was  finish- 
ed in  1517,  in  six  volumes  folio,  at  the  press  of  Com- 
plutum,  or  Alcala  de  Henares.j:  The  Old  Testament 
contained  the  original  Hebrew  text,  the  Vulgate  or 
J^atin  version  of  Jerome,  and  the  Greek  version  of  the 

*  Clementin.  lib.  v.  til.  i.  De  Mag-istris. 

t  "  Aiunt  homines  esse  virum,  (Ximenium)  si  non  literis,  moriim 
tamen  sanctitate,  egregium."     (Martyris  Epist.  ep.  160.) 

X  Its  publication,  however,  was  subsequent  to  March  22,  1520,  the 
date  of  tlie  diploma  of  Leo  X.  prefixed  to  the  work.  Besides  Deme- 
trius Ducas,  Lebrixa,  and  Nunez,  alread}'^  mentioned,  the  learned 
men  who  took  part  in  this  work  were  Diego  Lopez  de  Zuniga,  (better 
known  by  the  name  of  Stunica,  in  his  controversies  with  Erasmus 
and  Faber  Stapulensis,)  Juan  de  Vergara,  Bartolome  de  Castro,  (cal- 
led the  Master  of  Burgos,)  Pablo  Coronel,  Alfonso,  a  physician  of  Alca- 
la, and  Alfonso  de  Zamora.  The  four  persons  first  named  had  the 
charge  of  the  Greek  part  of  the  work,  and  wrote  the  interlined  Latin 
version  of  the  Septuagint.  Vergara  made  some  important  corrections 
on  the  Vulgate  version  of  the  books  called  Sapiential.  The  three  last 
named  were  converted  Jews,  and  skilled  in  Hebrew.  The  Latin 
translation  of  the  Chaldee  Paraphrase,  and  the  Hebrew  grammar  and 
dictionary,  were  the  work  of  Zamora.  The  cardinal  is  said  to  have 
paid  four  thousand  ducats  for  four  Hebrew  manuscripts  :  and  the  whole 
dortaking  is  computed  to  have  cost  him  upwards  of  fifty  thousand  du- 
cats. The  price  of  each  copy  of  the  Polyglot  was  fixed,  by  the  bishop  of 
Avila,  at  six  ducats  and  a  liall';  "not  judging  by  the  cost  of  the  work, 
which  was  infinite,  but  by  its  utility."  (Mandat.  Franc.  Episcopi 
Abulensis,  praefix.  Bibl.  Complut.  Alv.  Gomez,  ut  infra.) 

5 


5S  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Septnagint,  arranged  in  three  columns :  and  at  the  foot 
of  each  page  of  the  Pentateuch  was  printed  the  Chal- 
dee  paraphrase  of  Onkelos,  accompanied  with  a  La- 
tin translation.  The  New  Testament  contained  the 
original  Greek,  and  the  Vulgate  Latin  version.  To 
the  whole  were  added  a  grammar  and  dictionary  of 
the  Hebrew  language,  and  a  Greek  lexicon  or  voca- 
bulary, with  some  other  explanatory  treatises.  John 
Brocar,  the  son  of  the  printer,  was  accustomed  to  re- 
late, that  when  the  last  sheet  came  from  the  press,  he, 
being  then  a  boy,  was  sent  in  his  best  clothes  with  a 
copy  of  it  to  the  cardinal,  who  gave  thanks  to  God  for 
sparing  him  to  that  day,  and  turning  to  his  attendants, 
said  that  he  congratulated  himself  on  the  completion 
of  that  work  more  than  on  any  of  the  acts  which  had 
distinguished  his  administration.* 

Spanish  writers  have  been  too  lavish  of  their  en- 
comiums on  the  Polyglot  of  Alcala.  The  Hebrew 
and  Greek  manuscripts  employed  by  its  compilers 
were  neither  numerous  nor  ancient;  and  instead  of 
correcting  the  text  of  the  Septuagint  from  the  copies 
which  were  in  their  possession,  they  made  alterations 
of  their  own,  with  a  view  of  adapting  it  to  the  He- 
brew text.  Some  of  the  learned  men  who  laboured 
in  this  work,  must  have  been  ashamed  of  the  follow- 
ing specimen  of  puerile  devotion  to  the  Vulgate,  which 
occurs  in  one  of  the  prologues  written  in  the  name  of 
Ximenes.  Speaking  of  the  order  in  which  the  matter 
is  disposed  in  the  columns,  he  says:  "We  have  put 
the  version  of  St.  Jerome  between  the  Hebrew  and 
Septuagint,  as  between  the  synagogue  and  eastern 
church,  which  are  like  the  two  thieves,  the  one  on 
the  right  and  the  other  on  the  left  hand,  and  Jesus, 
that  is  the  Roman  church,  in  the  middle :  for  this  alone, 
being  founded  upon  a  solid  rock,  remains  always  im- 
movable in  the  truth,  while  the  others  deviate  from 

*  Alvar.  Gomez,  Vita  Ximcnii,  f.  36,  37.  Quintanilla,  Vida,  p. 
135-139.  Archivo  (Viiiiplutt  rise,  p.  50-55.  Lc  Long,  I'ibl.  Sac.  edit 
Mascli.  part.  i.  cap.  3.  §  2.  Goctz,  Vcrthcidigung  dor  Coinplutcnsis- 
chcn  Bibel. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  59 

the  proper  sense  of  Scripture."*  But  notwithstand- 
ing these  defects,  when  we  consider  the  period  at 
which  it  was  composed,  and  the  example  which  it 
held  out,  we  cannot  hesitate  in  affirming  that  this 
work  reflects  great  credit  on  its  authors,  and  on  the 
munificence  of  the  prelate  at  whose  expense  it  was 
executed. 

The  Arabic  language  was  also  cultivated  at  this 
time  by  some  individuals  in  Spain. t  This  branch  of 
study  was  zealously  patronized  by  Fernando  de  Ta- 
lavera,  who  after  the  overthrow  of  the  Moorish  king- 
dom was  appointed  the  first  archbishop  of  Granada. 
This  pious  and  amiable  prelate,  being  desirous  of  con- 
verting the  Moors  who  resided  in  his  diocese  by  gen- 
tle and  rational  methods,  and  consequently  of  promo- 
ting the  knowledge  of  Christianity  among  them,  en- 
couraged the  clergy  under  his  charge  to  make  them- 
selves masters  of  the  Arabian  tongue.  With  the  view 
of  assisting  them  in  this  task  he  employed  his  chap- 
lain Pedro  de  Alcala,  a  Hieronymite  monk,  to  draw 
up  an  Arabic  grammar,  vocabulary,  and  catechism 
containing  the  first  rudiments  of  Christian  doctrine, 
for  the  use  of  parish  priests  and  catechists:  which 
were  the  first  books  ever  printed  in  that  language.  J 
In  order  the  more  efi'ectually  to  promote  the  same  ob- 
ject, the  archbishop  caused  the  religious  service  to  be 
performed  in  their  vernacular  tongue,  to  such  of  the 
Moors  as  had  submitted  to  baptism,  or  were  willing  to 

*  Many  Roman  Catholic  writers  are  ashamed  of  this  conceit,  (as 
they  call  it)  which  if  it  has  any  meaning,  implies  a  severe  censure 
on  the  whole  undertaking.  Le  Long  suppressed  it,  in  his  account  of 
the  work.  Not  so  Nicolas  Ramus,  bishop  of  Cuba,  who,  in  a  commen- 
tary on  the  words  informs  us  that  "  the  Hebrew  original  represents 
the  bad  thief,  and  the  Septuagint  version  the  good  thief"  Pere  Si- 
mon appeared  at  first  inclined  to  make  the  transatlantic  bishop  respon- 
sible both  for  the  text  and  the  commentary ;  but  he  afterwards  ac- 
knowledges that  the  former  is  to  be  found  in  the  Complutensian  pro- 
logue to  the   reader.    (Hist.  Crit.  du  Vieux  Test,  p  350:  conf  p.  577.) 

t  Nicol.  Clenardi  Epist.  p.  278.  Widmanstadii  Epist.  Dedic.  ad 
Ferdinandum  Imp.  in  Nov.  Test   Syriacum. 

X  Schnurrer,  Bibl.  Arabica,  p.  16-18.  The  three  tracts  were  print- 
ed at  Granada  in  1505,  in  the  Arabic  language,  but  in  Castilian  char- 
acters. 


60  HISTORY    OF    THE 

be  instructed ;  and  accordingly,  Arabic  translations  of 
the  collects  from  the  Gospels  and  Epistles  were  also 
made  by  his  orders.  It  was  his  intention  to  have  the 
whole  Scriptures  translated  into  that  language,  agree- 
ably to  what  is  said  to  have  been  done  at  an  early 
period  of  the  Moorish  dominion  in  Spain.* 

These  measures,  which  were  applauded  by  all  en- 
lightened men,  met  with  the  strenuous  opposition  of 
cardinal  Ximenes,  who,  while  he  wished  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  patron  of  learning,  was  a  determined 
enemy  to  the  progress  of  knowledge.  The  archbishop 
had  appealed  to  the  authority  of  St.  Paul,  who  said, 
"  In  the  church  I  had  rather  speak  five  words  with  my 
understanding,  that  by  my  voice  I  might  teach  others 
also,  than  ten  thousand  words  in  an  unknown  tongue." 
But  the  cardinal  pleaded  that  the  times  were  changed, 
and  appealed  to  St.  Peter.  To  put  the  sacred  oracles 
into  the  hands  of  those  who  were  but  newly  initiated 
into  our  religion,  was,  in  his  opinion,  to  throw  pearls 
before  swine.  Nor  did  he  think  it  a  whit  safer  to  in- 
trust the  old  Christians  with  this  treasure;  for,  (added 
he,  changing  the  metaphor,)  in  this  old  age  of  the 
world,  when  religion  is  so  far  degenerated  from  that 
purity  which  prevailed  in  the  time  of  St.  Paul,  the 
vulgar  are  in  danger  of  wresting  the  Scriptures  to  their 
destruction.  Knowing  that  the  common  people  are 
inclined  to  revere  what  is  concealed,  and  to  despise 
what  is  known,  the  wisest  nations  haA^e  always  kept 
them  at  a  distance  from  the  mysteries  of  religion. 
Books  written  by  men  of  approved  piety,  and  calcu- 
lated, by  the  examples  which  they  propose,  or  by  the 
fervour  of  their  style,  to  raise  the  dejected,  and  recall 
the  minds  of  men  from  the  things  of  sense  to  divine 
contemplation,  might  be  safely  circulated  in  the  vul- 
gar tongue  ;t  and  it  was  the  cardinal's  intention,  as 

*  Cyprian  dc  Valcra,  Exiiortacion  al  Cliristiano  Lector,  prefixed  to 
his  Spanish  translation  of  tlic  IJihlc. 

t  Flccliier  includes  "  catechisms,  solid  and  simple  explanations  of 
Christian  doctrine,  and  other  writing^s  calculated  to  enlighten  the 
minds  of  the  people,"  among  the  books  allowed  by  the  cardinal.  (Mis- 
toirc  du  Card.  Ximenes,  torn.  i.  p.  \5C).)  But  notliin^j  of  this  kind  is 
mentioned  by  Gomez,  to  whom  he  rclers  as  his  only  authority.  (Vita 
Ximenii,  f.  33,  a.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  61 

soon  as  he  found  leisure,  to  publish  some  works  of 
this  description;  but  the  sacred  Scriptures  ought  to 
be  exclusively  preserved  in  the  three  languages  in 
which  the   inscription  on   our  Saviour's  cross  was 
written;  and  if  ever  this  rule  should  be  neglected,  the 
most  pernicious  effects  would  ensue.*     This  opinion, 
which  is  merely  a  commentary  on  the  favourite  max- 
im of  the  church  of  Rome,  that  ignorance  is  the  mo- 
ther of  devotion,  has  met  with  the  warm  approbation 
of  his  biographer,  and  was  afterwards  produced  as  a 
proof  of  his  prophetic  gift,  along  with  his  miracles, 
in  the  application  which  the  Colegio  Mayor  de  San 
Ildefonso  made  to  the  papal  court  for  his  canoniza- 
tion.t     The  arguments  of  Ximenes  were  not  of  a  kind 
to  carry  conviction  to  the  minds  of  those  who  favour- 
ed enlightened  measures;  but  they  were  the  argu- 
ments of  a  man  who,  unfortunately  for  the  best  inte- 
rests of  Spain,  had  even  then  acquired  great  influence 
in  the  councils  of  government,  and  continued  for  many 
years  to  have  the  chief  direction  of  the  aff"airs  of  the 
nation,  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical.    The  books  which 
the  cardinal  had  promised  as  a  substitute  for  tlie  Gos- 
pels and  Epistles  made  their  appearance,  consisting  of 
treatises  of  mystic  or  rather  monastic  devotion,  and 
the  lives  of  some  of  its  most  high-flying  zealots,  both 
male  and  female ;  such  as,  the  Letters  of  Santa  Cata- 
lina  de  Sena,  of  Santa  Angela  de  Fulgino,  and  of  San- 
ta Matilda,  the  Degrees  of  San  Juan  Climaco,  the  in- 
structions of  San  Vicente  Ferrer,  and  of  Santa  Clara, 
the  Meditations  of  the  Carthusian  Thomas  Landul- 
pho,  and  the  Life  of  St.  Thomas  a  Becket,  archbishop 
of  Canterbury.  J 

The  opposition  of  Ximenes,  and  the  violent  and 
impolitic  measures  which  the  government  adopted 
against  the  Jews  and  Moors,  checked  the  cultivation 
of  oriental  literature  to  such  a  degree,  that,  in  the  year 
1535,  when  an  enthusiastic  scholar  visited  Spain,  he 
found  Hebrew  neglected,  and  could  not  meet  with  a 

*  Gomez,  ut  supra. 

t  Quintan  ilia,  Vida  y  Prodigies  del  S.  Card.  Ximenes,  p.  225. 

t  Quintauilla,  p.  141.    Gomez,  f.  39,  a. 


62  HISTORY    OF    THE 

single  native  acquainted  with  Arabic,  except  the  ve- 
nerable Nunez,  who  still  recollected  the  characters  of 
a  language  to  which  he  had  paid  some  attention  in 
his  youth.* 

A  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  Spanish,  of 
which  I  shall  afterwards  speak,  had  probably  little 
influence  in  preparing  for  the  introduction  of  the  re- 
formed opinions,  as  all  the  copies  of  it  appear  to  have 
been  destroyed  soon  after  it  came  from  the  press. 
Considerable  light  was  thrown  upon  the  sacred  wri- 
tings by  those  who  studied  them  in  the  original  lan- 
guages, at  the  close  of  the  fifteenth  and  begimiing  of 
the  sixteenth  centiuy.  Pablo  de  San  Maria  of  Bur- 
gos, commonly  called  Paulus  Burgensis,  a  converted 
Jew,  discovered  the  same  acquaintance  with  Hebrew 
which  distinguishes  the  Postilla,  or  notes  on  Scripture, 
by  Nicolas  de  Lira,  to  which  he  made  additions.! 
Alfonso  Tostado,  bishop  of  Avila,  who  wrote  com- 
mentaries on  the  historical  books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, and  on  Matthew,  had  formed  correct  notions  of 
the  literal  and  proper  sense  of  Scripture,  and  of  the 
duty  of  an  interpreter  to  adhere  to  it  in  opposition  to 
the  method  of  the  allegorizing  divines ;  but  he  swelled 
his  works  to  an  immoderate  bulk,  by  indulging  in 
digressions  on  common  places.  J  Pedro  de  Osma,  pro- 
fessor of  theology  at  Salamanca,  employed  his  talents 
in  correcting  the  original  text  of  the  New  Testament, 

*  Nic.  Clenardi  Epistoloe,  p.  229,  278-282.  What  Antonius  has 
stated  respecting  a  treatise  on  Christian  Doctrine  in  Arabic,  by 
archbishop  Ayala,  printed  at  Valencia  in  1566,  is  more  than  doubt- 
ful.    (Bibl.  Hisp.  Nov.  torn.  ii.  p.  108.) 

t  Simon,  Hist.  Crit.  du  Vieux  Test.  liv.  iii.  chap.  11.  p.  464-466. 
Colomesii  Hispan.  Orient,  p.  212-14. — Le  Long  mentions  "Prophetae 
Priores  Hcbraice  cum  Commentario  R.  David  Kimchi,  Leiria9  in  Lu- 
sitania,  1494,  fol."  (Bibl.  Sac.  edit.  Masch,  part  i.  cap.  1.  sect.  2. 
§  37.  num.  6.)  If  this  is  correct,  the  work  referred  to  must  have 
been  the  first  Hebrew  book,  and  the  only  one  by  a  Jew,  printed  in 
the  Peninsula.  None  of  the  Spanish  bibliographers  appear  to  have 
seen  a  copy  of  it.  Mendez  reports  it  incorrectly.  (Typog.  Esp.  p. 
339.) 

t  Tostati  Abulensis  Comment,  in  Evang.  M attheei,  cap.  xiii.  qucest. 
18;  conf.  cap.  ii.  qna?st.  .57.  An  abridgement  of  his  commentary  on 
Matthew  was  printed,  in  two  volumes  folio,  at  Seville,  in  1491. — 
(Mendez,  p.  179.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  63 

by  a  critical  collation  of  different  manuscripts.  He 
displayed  the  same  freedom  of  opinion  on  doctrinal 
points;  and  in  1479  was  forced  to  abjure  eight  pro- 
positions relating  to  the  power  of  the  pope,  and  the 
sacrament  of  penance,  which  were  extracted  from  a 
book  written  by  him  on  Confession,  and  condemned 
as  erroneous  by  a  council  held  at  Alcala.*  Besides 
his  services  in  the  cause  of  polite  literature,  Antonio 
Lebrixa  wrote  several  works  illustrative  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, for  which  he  was  brought  before  the  Inquisition, 
and  would  have  incurred  the  same  censure  as  De 
Osma,  had  he  not  been  so  fortunate  as  to  secure  the 
protection  of  their  Catholic  Majesties.! 

By  the  labours  of  these  men,  together  with  the  wri- 
tings of  their  countryman  Ludovicus  Vives,  who  had 
settled  in  the  Low  Countries,  and  of  his  friend  Eras- 
mus, a  salutary  change  was  produced  on  the  minds  of 
the  youth  at  the  universities.  They  became  disgusted 
at  the  barbarism  of  scholastic  theology,  read  the  Scrip- 
tures for  themselves,  consulted  them  in  the  originals, 
and  from  these  sources  ventured  to  correct  the  errors 
of  the  Vulgate,  and  to  expose  the  absurd  and  puerile 
interpretations  which  had  so  long  passed  current  un- 
der the  shade  of  ignorance  and  credulity. 

Having  put  the  reader  in  possession  of  the  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  state  of  letters  and  know- 
ledge which  tended  to  facilitate  the  introduction  of  the 
reformed  doctrine  into  Spain,  I  shall  now  take  a  view 
of  the  obstacles  with  which  it  had  to  contend,  of  which 
the  most  formidable  by  far  was  the  Inquisition. 

*  lUescas,  Hist.  Pontifical,  torn.  ii.  f.  86,  b. 

t  Antonii  Nebrissensis  Apologia  pro  scipso;  apud  Antonii  Bibl. 
Hisp.  Vet.  torn.  ii.  p.  310,  311. 


64  HISTORY    OF    THE 


CHAPTER  III. 

OK    THE    INaUISITION,    AND    OTHER    OBSTACLES    TO    THE    REFORMATION 

IN    SPAIN. 

Soon  after  the  Roman  empire  became  Christian,  laws 
were  enacted,  subjecting  those  who  propagated  er- 
roneous opinions  to  punishment,  under  the  false  idea 
that  heresy,  or  error  in  matters  of  revelation,  was  a 
crime  and  an  offence  against  the  state.  The  penalties 
were  in  general  moderate,  compared  with  those  which 
were  decreed  at  a  subsequent  period.  Manicheism, 
which  was  considered  as  eversive  of  the  principles  of 
natural  religion,  and  dangerous  to  morals,  was  the 
only  heresy  visited  with  capital  punishment ;  a  penal- 
ty which  was  afterwards  extended  to  the  Donatists, 
who  were  chargeable  with  exciting  tumults  in  various 
parts  of  the  empire.  The  bishops  of  that  time  were 
iar  from  soliciting  the  execution  of  these  penal  sta- 
tutes, which  in  most  instances  had  passed  at  tlieir  de- 
sire, or  with  their  consent.  They  flattered  themselves 
that  the  publication  of  severe  laws,  by  the  terror 
which  it  inspired,  would  repress  the  hardihood  of 
daring  innovators,  and  induce  their  deluded  followers 
to  listen  to  instruction,  and  return  to  the  bosom  of  the 
faithful  church.  When  Priscillian  was  put  to  death 
for  Manicheism,  at  Treves  in  384,  St.  Martin,  the 
apostle  of  the  French,  remonstrated  with  the  emperor 
Maximus  against  the  deed,  which  was  regarded  with 
abhorrence  by  all  the  bishops  of  France  and  Italy.* 
St.  Augustine  protested  to  the  proconsul  of  Africa, 
that,  if  capital  punishment  was  inflicted  on  the  Dona- 
tists, he  and  his  clergy  would  suffer  death  at  the  hands 
of  these  turbulent  heretics  sooner  than  be  instrumental 
in  bringing  them  before  the  tribunals.!  But  it  is 
easier  to  draw  than  to  sheathe  the  sword  of  persecu- 
tion; and  the  ecclesiastics  of  a  following  age  were 
zealous  in  stimulating  reluctant  magistrates  to  execute 

*  Sulpitii  Scvcri  Hist.  Sac.  lib.  ii.  cap.  47,  49. 

t  S.  Augustini  Epist.  cp.  127,  ad  Donatum,  Procons.  AfricoB. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  65 

these  laws,  and  in  procuring  the  appUcation  of  them 
to  persons  who  held  opinions  which  their  predeces- 
sors looked  upon  as  harmless  or  laudable.  In  the 
eleventh  century,  capital  punishment,  even  in  its  most 
dreadful  form,  that  of  burning  alive,  was  extended  to 
all  who  obstinately  adhered  to  opinions  differing  from 
the  received  faith.  ^ 

Historians  have  not  pointed  out  with  precision  the 
period  at  which  this  extension  of  the  penal  code  took 
place,  or  the  grounds  on  which  it  proceeded.  In- 
stances of  the  practice  occur  previously  to  the  imperial 
edict  of  Frederick  II.  in  1224,  and  even  to  that  of 
Frederick  I.  in  1184.t  It  appears  to  me  to  have  been 
at  first  introduced  by  confounding  the  different  sects 
which  arose  with  the  followers  of  Manes.  Taking 
advantage  of  the  circumstance,  that  some  individuals 
belonging  to  those  who  went  by  the  names  of  Henri- 
cians,  Arnoldists,  Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  and  Vaudois, 
held  the  leading  tenet  of  Manicheism,  the  clergy  fixed 
this  stigma  on  the  whole  body,  and  called  on  magis- 
trates to  visit  them  with  the  penalty  decreed  against 
that  odious  heresy.  In  an  ignorant  age  this  charge 
was  easily  believed.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  victims 
of  persecution  protested  against  the  indiscriminate  ac- 
cusation, or  disowned  the  sentiments  imputed  to  them. 
By  the  time  that  undeniable  facts  cleared  their  inno- 
cence, the  public  mind  had  learned  to  view  the  seve- 
rity of  their  fate  with  indiiference  or  approbation;  and 
the  punishment  of  death,  under  the  general  phrase  of 
delivering  over  to  the  secular  arm,  came  to  be  consid- 
ered as  the  common  award  for  all  who  entertained 
opinions  opposite  to  those  of  the  church  of  Rome,  or 
who  presumed  to  inveigh  against  the  corruptions  of 
the  priesthood. 

Other  causes,  some  of  which  had  been  long  in 

*  Burning  alive  was,  by  a  constitution  of  Constantine,  decreed  as 
the  punishment  of  those  Jews  and  Coehcoli  who  should  offer  violence, 
"saxis  aut  alio  furoris  genere,"  to  any  who  had  deserted  them,  and 
embraced  Christianity.  (Cod.  lib.  i.  tit.  ix.  §  3.)  The  same  punish- 
ment  was  allotted  to  those  who  should  open  the  dikes  of  the  Nile,  by 
an  edict  of  Honorius  and  Theodosius.     (Cod.  lib.  ix.  tit.  xxxviii.) 

\  Fleury,  Hist.  Eccles.  livre  Iviii.  n.  54. 


66  HISTORY    OF    THE 

operation,  contributed  to  work,  in  the  course  of  the 
eleventh  century,  a  great  change  on  the  criminal  pro- 
ceedings against  heretics.  The  sentence  of  excommu- 
nication, which  at  first  only  excluded  from  the  privi- 
leges of  the  church,  was  now  considered  as  inflicting 
a  mark  of  public  infamy  on  those  who  incurred  it; 
from  which  the  transition  was  not  difficult,  in  a  su- 
perstitious age,  to  the  idea  that  it  deprived  them  of 
all  the  rights,  natural  or  civil,  of  which  they  were 
formerly  in  possession.  The  unhappy  individuals  who 
were  struck  with  this  spiritual  thunder,  felt  all  the 
bonds  which  connected  them  with  society  suddenly 
dissolved,  and  were  regarded  as  objects  at  once  of 
divine  execration  and  human  abhorrence.  Subjects 
threw  off"  their  allegiance  to  their  legitimate  sove- 
reigns; sovereigns  gave  up  their  richest  and  most 
peaceable  provinces  to  fire  and  sword;  the  territories 
of  a  vassal  became  lawful  prey  to  his  neighbours;  and 
a  man's  enemies  were  those  of  his  own  house.  The 
Roman  pontiifs,  who  had  extended  their  authority  by 
affecting  an  ardent  zeal  for  the  honour  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  found  a  powerful  engine  for  accomplishing 
their  ambitious  designs,  in  the  crusades,  undertaken 
at  their  instigation,  to  deliver  the  Holy  Land,  and  the 
sepulchre  of  Christ,  from  the  pollution  of  infidels. 
These  mad  expeditions,  whose  indirect  influence  was 
ultimately  favourable  to  European  civilization,  were 
in  the  mean  time  productive  of  the  worst  effects.  While 
they  weakened  the  sovereigns  who  embarked  in  them, 
they  increased  the  power  of  the  popes,  and  placed  at 
their  disposal  immense  armies,  which  they  could  direct 
against  all  who  opposed  their  measures.  They  per- 
verted, in  the  minds  of  men,  the  essential  principles 
of  religion,  justice,  and  humanity,  by  cherishing  the 
false  idea  that  it  is  meritorious  to  wage  war  for  the 
glory  of  the  Christian  name, — by  throwing  the  veil  of 
sanctity  over  the  greatest  enormities  of  which  a  li- 
centious soldiery  might  be  guilty, — by  conferring  the 
pardon  of  their  sins  on  all  who  arrayed  themselves 
under  the  banners  of  the  cross, — and  by  holding  out 
the  palm  of  martyrdom  to  such  as  should  have  the 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  67 

honour  to  fall  in  fighting  against  the  enemies  of  the 
faith.  Nor  were  the  popes  either  dilatory  or  slack  in 
availing  themselves  of  these  prejudices.  Finding  that 
their  violent  measures  for  suppressing  the  Albigenses 
were  feebly  seconded  by  the  barons  of  Provence,  they 
proclaimed  a  crusade  against  heretics,  launched  the 
sentence  of  excommunication  against  both  superiors 
and  vassals,  and  carried  on  a  war  of  extermination  in 
the  south  of  France  during  a  period  of  twenty  years. 
It  was  amidst  these  scenes  of  blood  and  horror  that 
the  Inquisition  rose. 

Historians  are  divided  in  opinion  as  to  the  exact 
time  at  which  the  Inquisition  was  founded.  Inquisi- 
tors and  informers  are  mentioned  in  a  law  published 
by  the  emperor  Theodosius  against  the  Manicheans; 
but  these  were  officers  of  justice  appointed  by  the  pre- 
fects, and  differed  entirely  from  the  persons  who  be- 
came so  notorious  under  these  designations  many  cen- 
turies after  that  period.*  The  fundamental  principle 
of  that  odious  institution  was  undoubtedly  recognized 
in  1184,  by  the  council  of  Verona;  which  however 
established  no  separate  tribunal  for  the  pursuit  of  he- 
retics, but  left  this  task  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
bishops.  Rainier,  Castelnau,  and  St.  Dominic,  who 
were  sent  into  France  at  different  times  from  1198  to 
1206,  had  a  commission  from  the  pope  to  search  for 
heretics,  and  in  this  sense  may  be  called  inquisitors; 
but  they  were  invested  with  no  judicial  power  to 
pronounce  a  definitive  sentence. t  The  council  of  the 
Lateran  in  1218  made  no  innovation  on  the  ancient 
practice.  The  council  held  at  Toulouse  in  1229,  or- 
dained that  the  bishops  should  appoint,  in  each  parish 
of  their  respective  dioceses,  "  one  priest  and  two  or 
three  laics,  who  should  engage  upon  oath  to  make  a 
rigorous  search  after  all  heretics  and  their  abettors, 
and  for  this  purpose  should  visit  every  house  from 
the  garret  to  the  cellar,  together  with  all  subterra- 
neous places  where  they  might  conceal  themselves."  J 

*  Cod.  Theodos.  lib.  xvi.  tit.  v.  leg.  9.  de  haeretlcis. 
t  Hist.  Gen.  de  Languedoc,  iii.  130,  134,  558-560. 
X  It  was  by  an  act  of  this  council  that  the  laity  were  first  prohi. 


68  HISTORY    OP    THE 

But  the  Inquisition,  as  a  distinct  tribunal,  was  not 
erected  until  the  year  1233,  when  pope  Gregory  IX. 
took  from  the  bishops  the  power  of  discovering  and 
bringing  to  judgment  the  heretics  who  lurked  in 
France,  and  committed  that  task  to  the  Dominican 
friars.  In  consequence  of  this  the  tribunal  was  im- 
mediately set  up  in  Toulouse,  and  afterwards  in  the 
neighbouring  cities,  from  which  it  was  introduced 
into  other  countries  of  Europe.* 

It  may  be  considered  as  a  fact  at  least  somewhat 
singular,  that  in  the  proceedings  of  the  first  Spanish 
council  whose  records  have  reached  our  time,  we 
find  a  deeper  stigma  affixed  to  the  character  of  inform- 
ers than  to  that  of  heretics.  The  council  of  Elvira, 
after  limiting  the  duration  of  the  penance  of  those 
who  might  fall  into  heresy,  decreed  that  "  if  a  catho- 
lic become  an  informer,  and  any  one  be  put  to  death 
or  proscribed  in  consequence  of  his  denunciation,  he 
shall  not  receive  the  communion,  even  at  the  hour  of 
death. "t  On  a  review  of  criminal  proceedings  in 
Spain  anterior  to  the  establishment  of  the  court  of 
Inquisition,  it  appears  in  general  that  heretics  were 
more  mildly  treated  there  than  in  other  countries. 
Jews  who  relapsed,  after  having  been  baptized,  were 
subject  to  whipping  and  spare  diet,  according  to  the 
age  of  the  ofienders.J  Those  who  apostatized  to  pa- 
ganism, if  nobles  or  freemen,  were  condemned  to 
exile,  and  if  slaves,  to  whipping  and  chains. §  The 
general  law  against  heretics  was,  that  such  as  refused 
to  recant,  if  priests,  should  be  deprived  of  all  their 
dignities  and  property,  and  if  laics,  that  they,  in  ad- 

bited  from  having  the  hooks  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  (Concil. 
Tolos.  can.  14  :  Labbci  Collect,  toin.  xi.  p.  427.) 

*  Hist.  Gen.  de  Langueduc,  toni.  iii.  p.  131,  383,  394-5.  Mosheim, 
cent.  xiii.  part  ii.  chap.  v.  §  4.  Llorcntc,  chap.  ii.  It  appears,  how. 
over,  from  a  constitution  of  Frederic  II.  that  tlie  Dominicans  in  1229 
acted  as  apostolical  inciuisitors  in  Italy,  where  St.  Dominic  had  erect- 
ed, under  the  name  of  the  Militia  of  Christ,  a  secular  order,  whose 
employment  answered  to  that  of  those  afterwards  called  Familiars  of 
the  Inquisition.     (Llorente,  i.  51-54.) 

t  Concil.  Illiherit.  can.  22,  73. 

t  Concil.  Tolet.  IX.  can.  17.     Anno  655. 

§  Concil.  Tolet.  XIII.  can,  11.     Anno  681. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  69 

dition,  be  condemed  to  perpetual  banishment.*  Even 
after  the  barbarous  custom  of  committing  obstinate 
heretics  to  the  flames  had  been  introduced  into  other 
parts  of  Europe,  Spain  testified  her  aversion  to  san- 
guinary measures.  In  1194,  when  Alsfonso  II.  of 
Aragon,  at  the  instigation  of  pope  Celestine,  publish- 
ed an  edict,  commanding  the  Vaudois,  and  all  other 
sectaries,  to  quit  his  dominions,  those  who  remained 
after  the  time  specified  were  expressly  exempted 
from  suffering  either  death  or  the  mutilation  of  their 
bodies.t 

No  sooner  had  the  Inquisition  received  the  papal 
sanction  than  measures  were  taken  for  having  it  in- 
troduced into  Spain,  where  the  Dominicans  had  al- 
ready established  convents  of  their  order.  In  the 
course  of  the  thirteenth  century,  inquisitorial  tribunals 
were  permanently  erected  in  the  principal  towns  of 
the  kingdom  of  Aragon,  from  which  they  were  ex- 
tended to  Navarre. .t  Though  a  papal  brief  was  is- 
sued in  1236  for  the  special  purpose  of  introducing- 
the  Holy  Office  into  Castile,  and  Ferdinand  III.  sur- 
iiamed  the  Saint,  is  said  to  have  carried  with  his  own 
liand  the  wood  destined  for  burning  his  subjects — yet 
it  does  not  appear  that  there  ever  was  a  permanent 
tribunal  in  that  kingdom  under  the  ancient  form  of 
the  Inquisition ;  either  because  heres}^  had  made  little 
progress  among  the  Castilians,  or  because  they  were 
averse  to  the  new  metliod  of  extirpating  it.§ 

The  mode  of  proceeding  in  the  court  of  Inquisi- 
tion, when  first  erected,  was  simple,  and  differed  very 
little  from  that  which  Avas  followed  in  the  ordinary 
courts  of  justice.  In  particular,  the  interrogatories  put 
to  persons  accused,  and  to  witnesses,  were  short  and 
direct,  evincing  merely  a  desire  to  ascertain  the  truth 
on  the  subjects  of  inquiry.  ||     But  this  simplicity  soon 

*  Leg.  Goth.  lib.  xii  tit.  ii.  de  hceret.  lex  2. 

t  Pcgna,  Comment,  in  Direct.  Inquis.  Nic.  Eimerici :  Llorcnte,  i.  31. 

t  Llorentc,  i.  77,  85,  97. 

§  Llorcnte,  i.  77,  S5,  88,  95. 

II  See  the  laterrogaliones  ad  Haereticos  and  the  extracts  from  the 
proceedings  of  the  inquisitors  of  Carcassone  and  Avignon,  published 
in  Hist.  Gen.  de  Languedoc,  torn.  iii.  Preuves,  p.  372,  435-44L 


70  HISTORY    OF    THE 

gave  place  to  a  system  of  the  most  complicated  and 
iniquitous  circumvention.  Grossly  ignorant  of  judi- 
cial matters,  the  Dominicans  modelled  their  new  court 
after  what  is  called  in  the  Roman  church,  the  Tribunal 
of  Penance.  Accustomed,  in  the  confessional,  to  pene- 
trate into  the  secrets  of  conscience,  they  converted  to 
the  destruction  of  the  bodies  of  men  all  those  arts 
which  a  false  zeal  had  taught  them  to  employ  for  the 
saving  of  their  souls.  Inflamed  with  a  passion  for 
extirpating  heresy,  and  persuading  themselves  that 
the  end  sanctified  the  means,  they  not  only  acted 
upon,  but  formerly  laid  down,  as  a  rule  for  their  con- 
duct, maxims  founded  on  the  grossest  deceit  and  arti- 
fice, according  to  which  they  sought  in  every  way  to 
ensnare  their  victims,  and  by  means  of  false  state- 
ments, delusory  promises,  and  a  tortuous  course  of 
examination,  to  betray  them  into  confessions  which 
proved  fatal  to  their  lives  and  fortunes."^  To  this 
mental  torture  was  soon  after  added  the  use  of  bodi- 
ly tortures,  together  with  the  concealment  of  the 
names  of  witnesses. 

After  this  court  had  subsisted  for  two  centuries  and 
a  half,  it  underwent  what  its  friends  have  honoured 
with  the  name  of  a  reform;  in  consequence  of  which 
it  became  a  more  terrible  engine  of  persecution  than 
before.  Under  this  new  form  it  is  usually  called  the 
Modern  Inquisition,  though  it  may  with  equal  pro- 
piety  bear  the  name  of  the  Spanish,  as  it  originated 
in  Spain,  and  has  been  confined  to  that  country  in- 
cluding Portugal,  and  the  dominions  subject  to  the 
two  monarchs. 

The  war  of  the  Albigenses  was  the  pretext  used  by 
the  popes  for  the  establishment  of  the  ancient  Inqui- 
sition; the  necessity  of  checking  the  apostasy  of  the 
converts  from  Judaism  was  urged  as  the  reason  for 

*  See  two  ancient  treatises  published  by  the  Benedictine  fathers, 
Martene  and  Durand,  in  Thcsaur,  Nov.  Anccdot.  torn.  v.  p.  1785-1798. 
Extracts  from  them  are  given  by  Sismondi,  who  lias  pointed  out  the 
mahgnant  influence  which  the  proceedings  of  the  Inquisition  exerted 
on  the  criminal  jurisprudence  of  France.  (Hist,  of  tlic  Crusades 
against  the  Albigenses,  p.  220-226.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  71 

introducing  the  modern.  While  the  Spaniards  were  en- 
gaged in  continual  wars  with  one  another  or  with  the 
Moors,  the  Jews,  who  had  been  settled  for  ages  in  the 
Peninsula,  by  addicting  themselves  to  trade  and  com- 
merce, had,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  engrossed  the 
wealth  of  the  nation,  and  attained  to  great  influence  in 
the  government  both  of  Castile  and  Aragon.  Those 
who  were  indebted  to  them,  and  those  who  envied 
them  on  account  of  the  civil  offices  which  they  held, 
united  in  stirring  up  the  religious  prejudices  of  the 
populace  against  them;  and  in  one  year  five  thou- 
sand Jews  fell  a  sacrifice  to  popular  fury.  With  the 
view  of  saving  their  lives,  many  submitted  to  baptism, 
and  it  is  computed  that,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years, 
nearly  a  million  of  persons  renounced  the  law  of 
Moses  and  made  profession  of  the  Christian  faith. 
The  number  of  converts,  as  they  were  called,  was  in- 
creased in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  by 
the  zeal  of  the  Dominican  missionaries,  and  especial- 
ly of  St.  Vincent  Ferrer,  to  whom  the  Spanish  his- 
torians have  ascribed  more  miracles  and  conversions 
than  were  wrought  by  the  apostles.*  These  converts 
were  called  New  Christians,  and  sometimes  Mar- 
ranos  from  a  form  of  execration  in  use  among  the 
Jews.  As  their  adoption  of  the  Christian  profession 
proceeded  from  the  fear  of  death,  or  a  desire  to  secure 
secular  emoluments,  rather  than  internal  persuasion, 
the  greater  part  repented  of  having  abjured  the  reli- 
gion of  their  fathers,  and  resumed  the  practice  of  its 

*  Zurita,  Anales,  torn.  ii.  f.  444;  conf.  f.  430.  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp. 
Vet.  torn.  ii.  205 — 207.  In  support  of  his  opinion  that  the  printed 
sermons  of  St.  Vincent  Ferrer  were  taken  from  his  mouth  and  trans- 
lated into  Latin  by  some  of  his  hearers,  Nicolas  Antonio  says:  "  As 
he  preached,  wherever  he  went,  in  his  own  native  tongue  of  Valencia, 
to  English,  French,  and  Italians,  all  of  whom,  by  a  most  undoubted 
miracle,  understood  him,  it  is  impossible  that  the  same  sermons  could 
be  conceived  and  delivered  in  the  Vernacular  tongue,  and  turned  into 
Latin,  by  the  same  individual,  who  was  so  much  occupied,  and  preach- 
ed to  the  people  extempore  and  from  inspiration  rather  than  premedi- 
tation." (Ut  supra,  p.  206.)  With  all  deference  to  the  learned  his- 
torian,  we  should  think  that  this  reasoning,  if  it  prove  any  thing, 
proves  that  the  hearers  of  St.  Vincent  possessed  more  miraculous 
powers  than  himself,  and  that  they  should  have  been  canonized  rather 
than  the  preacher. 


72  HISTORY    OF    THE 

rites  in  secret,  while  they  pubHcly  conformed  to  those 
of  the  Christians.  This  forced  conformity  could  not 
fail  to  be  painful  to  their  minds,  and  was  relaxed  in 
proportion  as  the  fears  Avhich  they  felt  for  their  safety 
abated.  The  consequence  was,  that  many  of  them 
were  discovered  by  the  monks,  who  cried  out  that  if 
some  severe  means  were  not  adopted  to  repress  the 
evil,  the  whole  body  of  converted  Jews  would  soon 
relapse  into  their  former  habits,  and  the  faith  of  the 
old  Christians  would  be  corrupted  and  overthrown  by 
these  concealed  apostates  with  whom  they  were  in- 
termingled. But,  although  more  immediately  intend- 
ed to  guard  the  fidelity  of  the  new  Christians^  the 
modern  Inquisition,  like  the  ancient,  Avas  charged 
with  the  discovery  and  punishment  of  all  kinds  of 
heresy,  and  extended  its  jurisdiction  over  the  Old 
Christians,  as  well  as  Jewish  and  Moorish  converts. 

It  is  proper  that  the  names  of  those  individuals  to 
whom  Spain  owes  this  institution  should  not  be  for- 
gotten. The  most  active  were  Felippe  de  Barberis, 
inquisitor  of  Sicily,  and  Alfonso  de  Hoyeda,  prior  of 
Seville,  both  of  them  Dominican  friars,  assisted  by 
Nicolas  Franco,  bishop  of  Treviso,  avIio  was  at  that 
time  nuncio  from  pope  Sixtus  IV.  to  the  Spanish 
court. '^ 

The  Avhole  of  Spain  was  at  this  period  united  into 
one  kingdom  by  the  marriage  of  Ferdinand,  king  of 
Aragon,  and  Isabella,  queen  of  Castile.  Ferdinand 
readily  acceded  to  a  proposal  which  gave  him  the 
prospect  of  filling  his  coffers  by  means  of  confisca- 
tions; it  was  equally  agreeable  to  Sixtus,  from  its 
tendency  to  promote  the  views  of  the  court  of  Rome; 
and  they  succeeded,  by  the  help  of  the  friars,  in  over- 
coming the  repugnance  which  it  excited  in  the  hu- 
mane but  superstitious  mind  of  Isabella.  Tlie  bull 
for  establishing  the  Inquisition  in  Castile  was  issued 
on  the  1st  of  November  1478;  and  on  the  17th  of 
September  14S0,  their  catholic  majesties  named  the 
first  inquisitors,  who  commenced  their  proceedings  on 
the  2d  of  January  1481,  in  the  Dominican  convent  of 

*  Llorontc,  i.  143,  144. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  73 

St.  Paul  at  Seville.  The  tribunal  did  not  however 
assume  a  permanent  form  until  two  years  after,  when 
friar  Thomas  Torquemada,  prior  of  Santa  Cruz  in 
the  town  of  Segovia,  was  placed  at  its  head,  under 
the  designation  of  inquisitor-general,  first  of  Castile, 
and  afterwards  of  Aragon.*  Torquemada  proceed- 
ed without  delay  to  exercise  the  high  powers  with 
which  he  was  intrusted,  by  choosing  his  assessors,  and 
erecting  subordinate  tribunals  in  different  cities  of 
the  united  kingdom.  Over  the  whole  was  placed  the 
Council  of  the  Supreme,  consisting  of  the  inquisitor- 
general  as  president,  and  three  counsellors,  two  of 
whom  were  doctors  of  law.  This  regulated  and  con- 
trolled the  inferior  tribunals ;  and  by  its  fundamental 
laws,  the  counsellors  had  a  deliberative  voice  in  all 
questions  relating  to  civil  law,  but  a  consultative 
voice  only  in  those  which  appertained  to  ecclesiasti- 
cal law,  of  Avhich  Torquemada  was  constituted  the 
sole  judge  by  the  apostolical  bulls.  These  counsellors 
appear  to  have  been  appointed  with  the  view  of 
preventing  encroachments  on  the  secular  authorities, 
and  accordingly  altercations  did  sometimes  arise  be- 
tween the  inquisitor-general  and  the  counsellors  of 
the  Supreme ;  but  as  the  latter  were  all  of  the  cleri- 
cal order,  and  as  no  clear  line  of  distinction  between 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs  was  drawn,  the  ques- 
tions which  came  before  the  court  were  generally 
brought  under  the  rules  of  canon  law,  or  in  other 
words  decided  according  to  the  pleasure  of  the  presi- 
dent. 

Torquemada's  next  employment  was  to  form  a 
body  of  laws  for  the  government  of  his  new  tribu- 
nal. This  appeared  in  1484;  additions  were  made  to 
it  from  time  to  time ;  and  as  a  diversity  of  practice 
had  crept  into  the  subordinate  courts,  the  inquisitor- 
general  Valdes,  in  1561,  made  a  revisal  of  the  whole 
code,  which  was  published  in  eighty-one  articles,  and 
continues,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  slight  altera- 

*  lUescas,   Hist.  Pontifical,  torn.  ii.  f.   101,  a.  Zurita,  Anales,  lib. 
XX.  Bcct.  49.     Llorente,  i.  J  45,  148-151. 

6 


74  HISTORY    OF    THE 

tions,  to  be  the  law  to  this  day.*  From  these  consti- 
tutions, as  iUustrated  by  the  authentic  documents  con- 
nected with  the  history  of  the  Inquisition  which  have 
been  lately  made  public,  a  correct  idea  may  be  form- 
ed of  the  mode  of  process  abserved  in  that  dreadful 
tribunal.  Instead  however  of  entering  here  into  de- 
tails which  may  be  found  elsewhere,  I  shall  select 
such  particulars  as  show  that  the  Inquisition  possessed 
powers  which  enabled  it  effectually  to  arrest  the  pro- 
gress of  knowledge,  and  to  crush  every  attempt  which 
might  be  made  for  the  reformation  of  religion  and  the 
church. 

The  first  thing  which  presents  itself  to.  our  view,  is 
the  immense  apparatus  which  the  Inquisition  pos- 
sesses for  the  discovery  of  heresy,  and  the  apprehen- 
sion of  those  who  are  suspected  of  having  incurred  its 
taint.  Deceived  by  the  importance  attached  to  de- 
nunciation in  the  instructions  of  the  Holy  Office,  some 
writers  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  there  is  no  way 
in  which  a  process  can  be  commenced  before  the  In- 
quisition, except  by  a  formal  charge  preferred  by 
some  individual ;  whereas  the  truth  is,  that  informa- 
tion, in  whatever  way  it  may  be  obtained,  is  sufficient 
for  this  purpose.!  The  Inquisition  is  not  only  a  court 
of  justice,  but  also^  as  its  name  intimates,  a  body  of 
police,  employed  in  discovering  the  offences  on  which 
it  is  afterwards  to  sit  in  judgment.  Every  individual 
belonging  to  its  tribunals,  supreme  or  subordinate, 
from  the  inquisitor-general  down  to  the  lowest  algua- 
zil  or  familiar,  is  charged  with  this  employment.  At 
those  periods,  when  its  vigilance  was  aroused  by  the 
alarm  of  heresy,  it  had  its  secret  spies  and  authorized 
agents  at  e\  ery  port  and  pass  of  the  kingdom,  as  re- 

*  The  editions  I  have  used  are  the  following  :  "  Copilacion  de  las 
Instrucciones  del  Officio  dc  la  sancta  Inquisicion,  hechas  por  el  muy 
revcrendo  Scnor  Fray  Thomas  de  Torqucmanda,"  &c.  Madrid, 
1576.  "  Copilacion  de  las  Instrucciones  del  Oficio  de  la  santa  In- 
quisicion, hechas  en  Toledo,  ano  dc  mil  y  quinientos  y  sesenta  y 
uno."     Ibid.  1G12. 

t  "  Quando  los  Inquisidores  se  juntarcn  a  ver  las  testificacioncs  que 
resultan  de  alguna  visita,  o  de  otro  manera,  o  que  por  otra  qualquier 
causa  se  huviere  recebido,"  &-c.  (Instrucciones  dc  1561»  art.  1.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  75 

gularly  as  government  had  its  tide-waiters  and  cus- 
tom-house officers,  armed  with  authority  to  arrest  the 
persons  and  property  of  all  who  incurred  their  sus- 
picions. In  addition  to  its  internal  resources,  it  avails 
itself  of  the  superstitious  prejudices  of  the  people, 
whom  it  raises  en  masse,  to  drive  the  poor  heretics 
into  the  legal  toils  spread  for  them  in  all  parts  of  the 
country.  At  any  time  which  it  judges  proper,  but 
statedly  on  two  Sundays  every  year  during  lent,  an 
edict  is  published  in  all  the  churches  of  the  kingdom, 
requiring  every  one  who  knows  any  person  suspected 
of  heresy  to  give  information  to  the  Inquisition  with- 
in six  days,  upon  pain  of  incurring  mortal  sin  and  ex- 
communication by  their  silence.  At  the  same  time, 
the  priests  in  the  confessional  exert  all  the  influence 
which  they  possess  over  the  minds  of  their  penitents 
to  persuade  them  to  comply  with  this  order.  In  this 
way  the  worst  and  the  best,  the  weakest  and  the 
strongest  passions  of  the  human  breast  are  engaged; 
and  persons  are  induced  to  become  informers  from 
private  malice,  from  pious  scruples,  and  from  selfish 
fears.  The  father  sometimes  informs  against  his  own 
child,  the  wife  against  her  husband,  and  the  love-sick 
maiden  against  the  object  of  her  tenderest  attachment. 
Though  the  holy  fathers  prefer  a  process  by  denunci- 
ation to  one  ex  officio*  and  in  order  to  encourage  in- 
formers, conceal  their  names,  yet  anonymous  infor- 
mations are  received  without  any  scruple,  provided 
they  furnish  the  smallest  clue  by  which  the  charge 
may  be  brought  home  to  the  accused.  One  prosecu- 
tion is  often  the  means  of  fastening  the  suspicion  of 
heresy  on  a  nmnber  of  individuals ;  for  it  is  an  invari- 
able rule  with  the  inquisitors,  not  to  inform  a  witness 
of  the  particular  object  for  which  he  is  cited,  but  to 
commence  by  desiring  him  to  task  his  memory  and 
say  if  he  recollects  having  seen  or  heard  any  thing 
which  appeared  to  be  inconsistent  with  the  catholic 
faith;  in  consequence  of  which,  he  is  led  to  mention 
names  not  implicated  in  the  process.  If,  upon  inquiry, 
the  inquisitors  are  of  opinion  that  they  will  find  it  dif- 

*  Instruc.  de  1561,  art.  19. 


76  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ficult  to  convict  the  suspected  person,  they  do  not 
examine  him,  because  this  would  only  serve  to  put 
him  on  his  guard;  nor  do  they  use  any  means  to  re- 
cover him  from » the  supposed  errors  into  which  he 
has  fallen;  but  suspending  their  proceedings,  wait 
until  they  obtain  additional  proof  to  substantiate  the 
charge.*  If  the  evidence  is  deemed  sufficient,  they 
issue  the  order  of  arrest  to  the  alguazil,  who,  accom- 
panied by  the  sequestrator  and  receiver  of  goods, 
instantly  repairs  to  the  house  of  the  accused;  and, 
provided  the  latter  has  absconded,  the  familiars  are 
furnished,  not  only  with  a  minute  description  of  his 
person,  but  also  with  his  picture,  so  that  it  is  next  to 
impossible  that  their  prey  can  escape  them.t 

Nor  is  it  less  difficult  for  a  person  to  escape  without 
condemnation,  if  he  once  has  had  the  misfortune  to 
be  apprehended.  It  is  only  in  the  way  of  being  able 
to  convict  him  of  heresy,  that  the  inquisitors  are  en- 
titled to  seize  on  his  property;  and  as  it  is  an  estab- 
lished maxim  of  theirs,  that  the  Holy  Office  cannot 
err,  they  consider  it  as  a  reflection  on  its  proceed- 
ings, if  any  individual  whom  it  has  apprehended  shall 
clear  himself  from  suspicion.  Without  acquainting 
him  either  with  his  accuser  or  the  charge  brought 
against  him,  every  art  is  employed,  both  by  his 
judges  in  the  repeated  examinations  to  which  they 
subject  him,  and  also  by  the  jailer  to  whose  care  he 
is  intrusted,  to  induce  the  prisoner  to  confess  that  he 
has  been  guilty  of  some  oflence  against  the  faith. 
He  is  strictly  interrogated  as  to  his  kindred,  con- 
nexions, acquaintances,  and  manner  of  life;  the  re- 
cords of  all  the  tribunals  of  the  Holy  Otiice  are  order- 
ed to  be  searched;  and  if  it  is  found  that  any  of  his 

*  Instruccioncs  de  1561,  art.  4.  Llorente  appears  to  have  mistaken 
the  hitter  part  of  this  article,  wliich  he  translates  thus  :  "  Ccttc  mcsurc 
(rintcrrogalorie)  nc  sort  qu\l  Ic  rcndre  plus  rdscrv6  et  plus  attentif  i 
eviter  tout  ce  qui  pourrait  agg-raver  les  soup^ons  ou  les  prcuvcs  ac- 
quises  contrc  lui."  (Hist,  dc  riiKjuis  torn.  ii.  p.  298.)  The  oriofinal 
words  arc:  "  Semcjuntcs  cxamencs  sirven  mas  de  avisar  los  tcstihca- 
dos,  que  de  otro  bucn  cfccto:  y  assi  convicne  mas  ag^uardar  que  so- 
brevenga  nucva  provaiira,  o  nucvos  indicios." 

t  Reg.  Gonsalv.  IMont.uii  Iiiquis  Hisp.  Artes  Dclectcc,  p.  8,  13,  16. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  77 

ancestors  or  relations,  however  remote,  either  in  the 
male  or  female  line,  or  any  of  those  with  whom  he 
has  consorted,  were  Jews,  Moors,  or  heretics,  or  had 
incm-red  the  censures  of  the  Inquisition,  this  cir- 
cumstance is  regarded  as  sufficient  to  fasten  on  him 
a  legitimate  presumption  of  guilt.  Even  a  failure  to 
repeat  the  Ave  Maria  or  creed  exactly  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  Roman  church,  is  viewed  in  the  same 
hght.* 

The  impenetrable  secrecy  with  which  all  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Inquisition  are  shrouded,  is  at  once  an 
instrument  of  terror,  and  an  encouragement  to  every 
species  of  injustice.  Every  person  who  enters  its  walls 
is  sworn,  before  he  is  permitted  to  depart,  to  observe 
the  most  profound  silence  as  to  all  that  he  may  have 
seen,  heard,  or  uttered.t  The  names  of  the  witnesses 
are  carefully  concealed  from  the  prisoner ;  and  they 
are  not  confronted  with  him,  nor,  so  far  as  appears, 
with  one  another.  |  No  check  is  imposed  on  the  in- 
fidelity or  ignorance  of  the  notaries  or  clerks  who  take 
down  the  depositions.  The  accused  is  not  furnished 
with  a  copy  of  the  evidence  against  him,  but  merely 

*  Instrucciones  de  an.  1488,  art.  9.  Instruc.  de  an.  1561,  art.  13-15. 
Montanus,  ut  supra,  p.  17-24.  Llorente,  ii.  302,  303.  Frampton's 
Narrative,  in  Strype's  Annals,  i.  240,  241. 

t  Mr.  Townsend  relates,  that  the  Dutch  consul,  with  whom  he  be- 
came acquainted  during  his  travels  in  Spain  in  1787,  could  never  be 
prevailed  on  to  give  an  account  of  his  imprisonment  in  the  Inquisition 
at  Barcelona,  which  had  happened  thirty-five  years  before,  and  be- 
trayed the  greatest  agitation  when  pressed  to  say  any  thing  about  the 
treatment  he  had  received.  His  fellow-prisoner,  M.  Falconet,  who 
was  but  a  boy,  turned  gray-headed  during  his  short  confinement,  and 
to  the  day  of  his  death,  though  retired  to  Montpellier,  observed  the 
most  tenacious  silence  on  the  subject.  He  had  destroyed  a  picture  of 
the  Virgin;  and  his  friend,  the  Dutch  consul,  being  present  and  not 
turning  accuser,  was  considered  as  a  partner  in  his  guilt.  (Townsend's 
Journey  through  Spain,  vol.  ii.  p.  336.) 

t  Llorente,  in  his  abridgment  of  the  constitutions  of  Valdes,  speaks 
as  if  the  witnesses  were  confronted  with  one  another ;  (tom.  ii.  p.  306,) 
but  I  perceive  nothing  in  the  original  document  to  warrant  this  inter- 
pretation. (Instruc.  de  an.  1561,  art.  26.)  The  same  historian,  rather 
inconsistently,  interprets  another  article  as  expressly  prohibiting  that 
practice;  (p.  327,)  whereas  that  article  prohibits  the  confronting  of 
the  witnesses  with  the  prisoner.  Its  title  is,  "  No  se  careen  los  tes- 
tigos  con  los  reos."   (Instruc.  de  an.  1561,  art.  72.) 


78  HISTORY    OP    THE 

with  such  garbled  extracts  as  his  judges  are  pleased 
to  order ;  and,  taking  advantage  of  the  different  modes 
of  expression  used  by  the  witnesses  in  speaking  of  the 
same  fact,  the  procurator-fiscal  often  converts  one 
charge  into  three  or  four,  by  which  means  the  pri- 
soner is  thrown  into  confusion  on  his  defence,  and 
exposed  to  popular  odium,  as  a  person  laden  with 
crimes,  if  he  is  ultimately  brought  out  in  the  public 
auto-de-fe.  Every  thing  which  the  witnesses  in  their 
examination  may  have  said  in  his  favour,  or  which 
might  be  conducive  to  his  exculpation,  is  studiously 
and  totally  suppressed. 

The  same  partial  and  unjust  rules  are  observed  in 
forming  the  extracts,  which,  both  at  the  commence- 
ment and  termination  of  the  process,  are  submitted 
to  certain  divines,  called  qualificators  of  the  Holy 
Office,  whose  business  it  is  to  say  whether  the  propo- 
sitions imputed  to  the  accused  individual  are  hereti- 
cal, or  to  what  degree  they  subject  him  to  the  suspi- 
cion of  heresy.  These  individuals,  besides,  are  gener- 
ally monks  or  scholastic  divines,  imbued  with  false 
notions,  and  ready  to  qualify,  or  stigmatize  as  hereti- 
cal, opinions  sanctioned  by  the  authority  of  the  most 
approved  doctors  of  the  church,  merely  because  they 
have  not  met  with  them  in  the  contracted  circle  of 
their  studies. 

It  is  not  easy  to  conceive  a  greater  mocker}'  of  justice 
than  is  to  be  found  in  the  provisions  made  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  prisoner.  The  judges  appoint  one  of  their 
advocates  to  act  as  his  counsel,  who  has  no  means  of 
defending  his  client,  except  the  garbled  extracts  from 
the  depositions  of  the  witnesses  already  mentioned. 
But  the  truth  is,  that  his  ability  is  as  great  as  his  incli- 
nation; for,  while  nominally  the  advocate  of  the  pri- 
soner, he  is  really  the  agent  and  proctor  of  the  court, 
in  obedience  to  whose  directions,  given  at  the  time  of 
his  nomination,  he  labours  in  most  instances  to  induce 
his  client  to  confess  and  throw  himself  on  the  mercy 
of  his  judges."^     Nor  is  the  pretended  privilege  of 

*  Instruc.  de  an.  1484,  art.  16.     Instruc.  de  an.  1561,  art  23.   Llo- 
rentc,  i.  309-312.     By  the  Instructions  of  1484,  the  accused  was  al- 


REFORMATION   IN   SPAIN.  79 

challenging  the  witnesses  less  nugatory  and  insulting 
to  the  prisoner.  Deprived  of  every  means  of  know- 
ing the  persons  who  have  deponed  against  him,  he 
can  have  recourse  to  conjecture  only;  malice  is  the 
sole  ground  of  exception  which  he  is  permitted  to 
urge;  he  may  have  been  accused  from  fanaticism, 
fear,  or  ignorant  scruples ;  or  his  personal  enemy  may 
have  put  forward,  as  the  instrument  of  his  malice,  an 
individual  whom  the  prisoner  would  never  think  of 
suspecting ;  and  sometimes  the  procurator-fiscal  takes 
the  precaution  of  secretly  establishing  the  credibility 
of  his  witnesses  beforehand,  with  the  view  of  defeat- 
ing the  challenge.  The  inquisitors  are  uniformly  dis- 
posed to  favour  the  witnesses  for  the  prosecution,  and 
to  screen  them  from  punishment,  even  in  cases  of  per- 
jury.* Nor  is  this  evil  to  be  traced  to  the  character 
of  particular  judges;  it  springs  from  the  very  genius 
of  the  tribunal,  which  induces  all  who  are  connected 
with  it  to  set  at  defiance  the  most  essential  principles 
of  justice  by  which  every  other  court  is  governed, 
and  even  to  disregard  its  own  regulations,  for  the 
sake  of  encouraging  informations  and  indulging  a 
morbid  jealousy.  Of  the  same  illusory  nature  is  the 
privilege  which,  in  certain  cases,  they  give  the  prisoner 
to  bring  forward  exculpatory  evidence.  For,  in  the 
first  place,  he  is  restricted  in  his  choice  of  witnesses. 
While  the  testimony  of  persons  of  all  descriptions — 
relations,  domestics.  New  Christians,  malefactors,  in- 
famous characters,  children,  and  even  idiots,  is  admis- 

lowed  the  benefit  of  a  procurator,  as  well  as  an  advocate ;  but  those 
of  1561  deprived  him  of  that  privilege,  "  because  it  had  been  found 
to  be  attended  with  many  inconveniences,^^  (a  word  frequently  used 
in  the  regulations  of  the  Inquisition  as  an  excuse  for  the  most  glaring 
violations  of  justice,) — "  porque  la  experiencia  ha  mostrado  muchos 
inconvenientes  que  dello  suelen  resultar."  (Instruc.  de  an.  15C1,  art. 
35.)  If  the  accused  is  under  age,  he  is  allowed  a  iw^or;  (ib.  art.  25,) 
but  the  tutelage  is  given  to  the  wolf,  one  of  the  menials  of  the  Inqui- 
sition being  often  appointed  to  that  office.     (Montanus,  p.  34,  35.) 

*  Llorente,  i.  314,  315.  Montanus,  54-57.  False  witnesses  are 
either  such  as  falsely  accuse  a  person  of  heresy,  or  such  as,  when  in- 
terrogated, falsely  declare  that  they  know  nothing  against  the  person 
accused.  "  In  the  course  of  my  researches,"  says  Llorente,  "  I  have 
often  found  witnesses  of  this  second  class  punished,  but  seldom  or 
never  those  of  the  first."  (p.  232.) 


80  HISTORY    OF    THE 

sible  against  him;'*^  he,  on  the  contrary,  is  directed  to 
name,  for  his  exculpation,  only  Christians  of  ancient 
race,  of  unimpeached  character,  and  who  are  neither 
his  relatives  nor  domestics.  And,  in  the  second  place, 
the  tribunal  reserves  to  itself  the  power  of  examining 
such  of  the  prisoner's  witnesses  only  as  it  shall  judge 
"most  fit  and  worthy  of  credit. "t 

The  injustice  of  the  inquisitorial  process  can  only 
be  equalled  by  its  cruelty.  Persons  of  undoubted 
veracity,  wlio  had  the  happiness  to  escape  from  the 
secret  prisons  of  the  Inquisition  during  the  sixteenth 
century,  have  described  them  as  narrow  and  gloomy 
cells,  which  admitted  the  light  only  by  a  small  chink, 
— damp,  and  resembling  graves  more  than  prisons,  if 
they  were  subterraneous;  and  if  they  were  situated  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  building,  feeling  in  summer  like 
heated  furnaces.  4:  At  present  they  are  described  as, 
in  general,  good  vaulted  chambers,  well  lighted,  free 
of  humidity,  and  of  such  size  as  to  allow  the  prisoner 
to  take  a  little  exercise. §  But  even  those  who  give 
the  most  favourable  description  of  these  abodes  admit 
that  nothing  can  be  conceived  more  frightful  than  the 
situation  of  the  individual  who  is  immured  in  them, 
left  as  he  is  to  conjecture  respecting  his  accuser  and 
the  particular  crime  with  which  he  is  charged ;  kept 
in  ignorance  of  the  state  of  his  process ;  shut  out  from 
every  kind  of  intercourse  Avith  his  friends;  denied 
even  the  consolation  of  conversing  confidentially  with 
the  person  to  whom  his  defence  has  been  intrusted; 
refused  all  use  of  books;  afraid,  if  he  has  a  fellow- 
prisoner  for  a  few  days,  to  do  more  than  exchange 
salutations  with  him,  lest  he  should  be  confiding  m  a 
spy;  threatened  if  he  hum  a  tune,  and  especially  a 
sacred  one,  to  relieve  his  languor ;  plunged  during  the 

*  Llorentc,  ii.  311.     Montanus,  41. 

t  Instruccioncs  de  an.  15G1,  art.  36. 

t  Montanus,  105.  Frampton's  Narrative  of  his  Imprisonment,  in 
Strype's  Annals,  i.  239. 

§  Llorentc,  i.  300,  An  intelligent  native  of  Spain,  who  had  in- 
spected the  secret  prisons  of  the  Holy  Office  at  Barcelona,  confirmed 
tome  the  account  given  by  Llorentc;  adding,  however,  that  there 
was  one  of  them  below  ground,  which  answered  in  every  respect  to 
the  description  given  by  Montanus. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  81 

rigour  of  the  winter  months,  in  total  darkness  for  fif- 
teen hours  of  every  day  in  an  abode  that  never  saw 
the  cheerful  blaze  of  a  fire;  and,  in  fine,  knoAving 
that  if  ever  he  should  be  set  free,  he  must  go  out  to 
the  world  lost  for  ever  in  public  opinion,  and  loaded 
with  an  infamy,  heavier  than  that  of  the  pardoned 
assassin  or  parricide,  which  will  attach  to  his  children 
of  the  remotest  generation.  What  wonder  that  such 
prisoners  are  not  induced,  at  an  early  period  of  their 
confinement,  to  confess  guilt,  become  a  prey  to  de- 
jection, and  seek  relief  from  their  miseries  in  death, 
or  else  sink  into  a  hopeless  and  morbid  insensibility, 
from  which  the  rack  itself  is  scarcely  sufficient  to 
rouse  them? 

That  part  of  the  process  which  relates  to  the  tor- 
ture is  a  monstrous  compound  of  injustice  and  barba- 
rity. If,  after  the  evidence  is  closed,  the  tribunal  find 
that  there  is  only  a  demi-proof  of  guilt  against  the 
prisoner,  it  is  warranted,  by  its  instructions,  to  have 
recourse  to  the  torture,  in  order  to  force  him  to  fur- 
nish additional  evidence  against  himself*  He  is  al- 
lowed, indeed,  to  appeal  to  the  council  of  the  Supreme 
against  the  sentence  of  the  inquisitors  ordering  him 
to  be  tortured ;  but  then,  by  a  refinement  in  cruelty, 
it  is  provided  that  the  inquisitors  shall  be  judges  of 
the  validity  of  this  appeal,  and,  "  if  they  deem  it  fri- 
volous, shall  proceed  to  the  execution  of  their  sen- 
tence without  delay."!  In  this  case,  the  appeal  of 
the  poor  prisoner  is  as  little  heard  of  as  are  the  shrieks 
which  he  utters  in  the  subterraneous  den  to  which 
he  is  conducted  without  delay,  where  every  bone  is 
moved  from  its  socket,  and  the  blood  is  made  to  start 
from  every  vein  of  his  body.  But  it  is  not  my  in- 
tention to  shock  the  feelings  of  the  reader  by  any 
description  of  the  infernal  operation;  and,  instead  of 

*  Instruc.  de  an.  1484,  art.  15.  By  this  regulation,  the  prisoner, 
if  he  confesses  during  the  torture,  and  ratifies  his  confession  next 
day,  is  held  as  convicted,  and  consequently  is  relaxed,  or  doomed  to 
the  fire.  The  regulations  of  Valdes  profess  to  qualify  that  law,  but 
still  in  the  way  of  leaving  it  to  the  discretion  of  the  inquisitors  to  act 
up  to  it  in  all  its  severity.     (Instruc.  de  an.  1561,  art.  53.) 

t  Instruc.  de  an.  1561,  art.  50. 


82  HISTORY    OP    THE 

trusting  myself  to  make  any  reflections  of  my  own 
on  a  practice  so  disgraceful  to  human  nature,  I  shall 
merely  quote  those  of  the  late  historian  and  ex-secre- 
tary of  the  Inquisition.  "  I  do  not  stop  (says  he)  to 
describe  the  several  kinds  of  torture  inflicted  on  the 
accused  by  order  of  the  Inquisition ;  this  task  having 
been  executed  with  sufficient  exactness  by  a  great 
many  historians.  On  this  head,  I  declare  that  none 
of  them  can  be  accused  of  exaggeration.  I  have  read 
many  processes  which  have  struck  and  pierced  me 
with  horror,  and  I  could  regard  the  inquisitors  who 
had  recourse  to  such  methods  in  no  other  light  than 
that  of  cold-blooded  barbarians.  Suffice  it  to  add, 
that  the  council  of  the  Supreme  has  often  been  obliged 
to  forbid  the  repetition  of  the  torture  in  the  same  pro- 
cess; but  the  inquisitors,  by  an  abominable  sophism, 
have  found  means  to  render  this  prohibition  almost 
useless,  by  giving  the  name  of  suspension  to  that  ces- 
sation from  torture  which  is  imperiously  demanded 
by  the  imminent  danger  to  which  the  victim  is  ex- 
posed of  dying  among  their  hands.  My  pen  refuses 
to  trace  the  picture  of  these  horrors,  for  I  know  no- 
thing more  opposed  to  the  spirit  of  charity  and  com- 
passion which  Jesus  Christ  inculcates  in  the  gospel, 
than  this  conduct  of  the  inquisitors;  and  yet,  in 
spite  of  the  scandal  ivhich  it  has  given,  there  is  not, 
after  the  eighteenth  century  is  closed,  any  laiv  or 
decree  abolishing  the  torture.''^* 

Of  the  punishments  inflicted  by  the  Inquisition,  of 
the  san-benito,  or  coat  of  infamy,  and  the  auto-de-fe, 
with  all  its  dread  accompaniments,  we  shall  have  too 
much  occasion  to  speak  in  the  sequel. 

The  principles  of  the  ancient  and  modern  Inqui- 
sition were  radically  the  same,  but  they  assumed  a 
more  malignant  form  under  the  latter  than  under  the 
former.  Under  the  ancient  Inquisition,  the  bishops 
had  always  a  certain  degree  of  control  over  its  pro- 
ceedings; the  law  of  secrecy  was  not  so  rigidly  en- 
forced in  practice;  greater  liberty  was  allowed  to  the 
accused  on  their  defence ;  and  in  some  countries,  as 

*  Llorentc,  i.  306-309. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  83 

in  Aragon,  in  consequence  of  the  civil  rights  acquired 
by  the  people,  the  inquisitors  were  restrained  from 
sequestrating  the  property  of  those  whom  they  con- 
victed of  heresy.*  But  the  leading  difference  between 
the  two  institutions  consisted  in  the  organization  of 
the  latter  into  one  great  independent  tribunal,  which, 
extending  over  the  whole  kingdom,  was  governed  by 
one  code  of  laws,  and  yielded  implicit  obedience  to 
one  head.  The  inquisitor- general  possessed  an  au- 
thority scarcely  inferior  to  that  of  the  king  or  the 
pope;  by  joining  with  either  of  them,  he  proved  an 
overmatch  for  the  other;  and  when  supported  by 
both,  his  power  was  irresistible.  The  ancient  Inqui- 
sition was  a  powerful  engine  for  harassing  and  root- 
ing out  a  small  body  of  dissidents;  the  modern  In- 
quisition stretched  its  iron  arms  over  a  whole  nation, 
upon  which  it  lay  like  a  monstrous  incubus,  paraly- 
sing its  exertions,  crushing  its  energies,  and  extin- 
guishing every  other  feeling  but  a  sense  of  weakness 
and  terror. 

In  the  course  of  the  first  year  in  which  it  was 
erected,  the  Inquisition  of  Sev^ille,  which  then  extend- 
ed over  Castile,  committed  two  thousand  persons 
alive  to  the  flames,  burnt  as  many  in  effigy,  and  con- 
demned seventeen  thousand  to  different  penances.t 
According  to  a  moderate  computation,  from  the  same 
date  to  1517,  the  year  in  which  Luther  made  his  ap- 
pearance, thirteen  thousand  persons  were  burnt  alive, 
eight  thousand  seven  hundred  were  burnt  in  effigy, 
and  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  twenty-three  were  condemned  to  penances; 
making  in  all  one  hundred  and  ninety-one  thousand 
four  hundred  and  twenty-three  persons  condemned 
by  the  several  tribunals  of  Spain  in  the  course  of 
thirty-six  years.  J     There  is  reason  for  thinking  that 

*  Llorente,  p.  168. 

+  Mariana,  Hist.  Hisp.  lib.  xxiv.  cap.  17. 

t  Llorente,  iv.  251-256.  These  numbers  are  taken  from  the  cal- 
culation made  by  Llorente,  after  he  had,  with  g'reat  care  and  impar- 
tiality, lowered  his  estimates,  and  corrected  some  errors  into  which 
he  had  fallen  in  an  early  part  of  his  work,  owing  to  his  not  having 
attended  to  tiie  exact  years  in  which  some  of  the  provincial  tribunals 
were  erected.     (Tom.  i.  272-281,  341,  360.) 


84  HISTORY    OF    THE 

this  estimate  falls  much  below  the  truth.  For,  from 
1481  to  1520,  it  is  computed  that  in  Andalusia  alone 
thirty  thousand  persons  informed  against  themselves, 
from  the  dread  of  being  accused  by  others,  or  in  the 
hope  of  obtaining  a  mitigation  of  their  sentence.*  And 
down  to  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, the  instances  of  absolution  were  so  rare,  that 
one  is  scarcely  to  be  found  in  a  thousand  cases;  the 
inquisitors  making  it  a  point,  that,  if  possible,  none 
should  escape  without  bearnig  a  mark  of  their  cen- 
sure, as  at  least  suspected  de  levi,  or  in  the  lowest 
degree. t 

It  was  to  be  expected  that  the  inquisitors  would 
exert  their  power  in  checking  the  cultivation  of  bibli- 
cal learning.  In  1490,  many  copies  of  the  Hebrew 
Bible  were  committed  to  the  flames  at  Seville  by  the 
order  of  Torqucmada ;  and  in  an  auto-de-fe  celebra- 
ted soon  after  at  Salamanca,  six  thousand  volumes 
shared  the  same  fate,  under  the  pretext  that  they 
contained  Judaism,  magic,  and  other  illicit  arts.i 
Deza,  archbishop  of  Seville,  who  had  succeeded  Tor- 
qucmada as  inquisitor-general,  ordered  the  papers  of 
Lebrixa  to  be  seized,  and  passed  sentence  against  him 
as  suspected  of  heresy,  for  the  corrections  which  he 
had  made  on  the  text  of  the  Vulgate,  and  his  other 
labours  in  elucidation  of  the  Scriptures.  "  The  arch- 
bishop's object  (says  Labrixa  in  an  apology  which  he 
drew  up  for  himself)  was  to  deter  me  from  writing. 
He  wished  to  extinguish  the  knowledge  of  two  lan- 
guages on  which  our  religion  depends;  and  I  was 
condemned  for  impiety,  because,  being  no  divine  but 
a  mere  grammarian,  I  presumed  to  treat  of  theologi- 
cal subjects.    If  a  person  endeavour  to  restore  the  pu- 

*  Puigblanch,  Inquisition  Unmasked,  i.  158.  According  to  this 
author  the  number  of  the  reconciled  and  banished  in  Andalusia,  from 
1480  to  1520,  was  a  hundred  thousand  ;  while  forty-five  thousand  were 
burnt  alive  in  the  archbisliopric  of  Seville.     (Ibid.  vol.  ii.  p.  180.) 

t  Llorente,  i.  31D-321.     Hence  the  proverb: 

Devant  I'Inquisition,  quand  on  vient  d  jube. 
Si  Ton  ne  sort  roti,  Ton  sort  au  moins  tlamb^. 

X  Ibid.  h.  281,  456. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  85 

rity  of  the  sacred  text,  and,  point  out  the  mistakes 
which  have  vitiated  it,  unless  he  will  retract  his  opi- 
nions, he  must  be  loaded  with  infamy,  excommuni- 
cated, and  doomed  to  an  ignominious  punishment! 
Is  it  not  enough  that  I  submit  my  judgment  to  the 
will  of  Christ  in  the  Scriptures?  must  I  also  reject  as 
false  what  is  as  clear  and  evident  as  the  light  of  truth 
itself?  What  tyranny !  To  hinder  a  man,  under  the 
most  cruel  pains,  from  saying  what  he  thinks,  though 
he  express  himself  with  the  utmost  respect  for  reli- 
gion, to  forbid  him  to  write  in  his  closet  or  in  the  sol- 
itude of  a  prison,  to  speak  to  himself  or  even  to  think ! 
On  what  subject  shall  we  employ  our  thoughts,  if  we 
are  prohibited  from  directing  them  to  those  sacred 
oracles  which  have  been  the  delight  of  the  pious  in 
every  age,  and  on  which  they  have  meditated  by  daiy 
and  by  night?"* 

Arbitrary  as  this  court  was  in  its  principles,  and 
tyrannical  and  cruel  as  it  has  proved  in  its  proceedings, 
so  blinded  did  the  Spanish  nation  become  as  to  feli- 
citate herself  on  the  establishment  of  the  Inquisition. 
The  cities  of  ancient  Greece  vied  with  one  another  for 
the  honour  of  having  given  birth  to  Homer.  The 
cities  of  modern  Germany  have  warmly  disputed  the 
honour  of  having  invented  the  art  of  printing.  Even 
the  credit  of  having  first  adopted  this  German  inven- 
tion has  given  rise  to  an  honourable  rivalry  among 
the  states  of  Italy;  and  the  monastery  of  St.  Subiac, 
in  the  Campagna  di  Roma,  has  endeavoured  to  wrest 
the  palm  from  both  Milan  and  Venice.t  But  the  ci- 
ties of  Spain  have  engaged  in  a  more  than  inglorious 
contest  for  the  credit  of  having  been  the  first  seat 
of  an  institution  which,  after  failing  to  strangle  learn- 
ing in  its  birth,  has  all  along  persecuted  it  with  the 
most  unrelenting  malice.  The  claims  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Seville  are  engraven  on  a  monument  erected 
in  their  city  to  the  memory  of  this  event.  Segovia 
has  contested  this  honour  with  Seville,  and  its  histori- 

*  Anton.  Nebriss.  Apologia  pro  seipso:  Antouii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nova, 
torn.  ii.  138.     Llorente,  i.  345. 

t  Ginguene,  Hist.  Liter,  d'ltalie,  toin.  iii.  p.  271. 


86  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ans  are  seriously  divided  on  the  question,  whether  the 
Holy  Office  held  its  first  sitting  in  the  house  of  mar- 
ques de  Moya,  or  in  that  of  the  majorat  de  Caceres.* 

It  is  but  justice,  however,  to  the  Spaniards  to  state 
that  this  perverted  and  degrading  sentiment  was  the 
effect  of  the  Inquisition,  and  formed  no  original  trait 
in  the  national  character.  The  fact  is  now  ascertain- 
ed beyond  all  question,  that  the  erection  of  this  tribu- 
nal was  viewed  by  the  nation  with  the  greatest  aver- 
sion and  alarm.t  Talavera,  the  excellent  archbishop 
of  Granada,  resisted  its  introduction  with  all  his  influ- 
ence. The  most  enlightened  Spaniards  of  that  age 
spoke  of  its  proceedings  with  horror  and  shame. 
"  The  losses  and  misery  which  the  evil  ministers  of 
the  Inquisition  have  brought  on  my  country  can  never 
be  enough  deplored,"  says  the  chevalier  de  Cordova, 
Gonzalez  de  Ayora,  in  a  letter  to  the  secretary  of 
king  Ferdinand.^  "0  unhappy  Spain,  mother  of  so 
many  heroes,  how  unjusly  disgraced  by  such  a  horri- 
ble scourge!"  exclaims  Peter  Martyr.§  D'Arbues, 
the  first  inquisitor  of  Aragon,  and  afterwards  canon- 
ized as  a  martyr,  was  not  the  only  individual  who 
fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  indignation  against  the  Inquisi- 
tion, shared  by  all  classes  of  the  community.     Tor- 

*  Llorente,  i.  151.  This  is  astonishing  ;  but  what  follows  is  still 
more  so.  "During  my  residence  in  London  (says  Llorente)  I  heard 
some  catholics  say,  that  the  Inquisition  had  been  useful  in  Spain  by 
preserving  the  catholic  faith  ;  and  that  it  would  have  been  well  for 
France  if  she  had  had  a  similar  establishment."  "  An  English  ca- 
tholic priest  in  my  hearing  made  an  apology  for  it."  (Ibid.  pref.  p. 
XXI.  and  torn.  ii.  p.  288.) 

t  Mariana,  Hist.  Hisp.  lib.  xxiv.  cap.  17.  Pulgar,  Cronic.  de  los 
Reyes  Catol.  part.  ii.  cap.  77.  Llorente  refers  as  witnesses  of  the 
fact,  to  Galindez  de  Carabajal,  historiographer  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, and  to  Andres  Bernaldcz,  chaplain  of  the  inquisitor  general 
Deza.  (Tom.  i.  p.  165.)  Pulgar,  a  contemporary  writer  of  great 
judgment  and  taste,  was  not  merely  an  enemy  to  the  Inquisition, 
but  opposed  the  corporal  punishment  of  heretics,  and  maintained  that 
they  ought  to  be  restrained  only  by  pecuniary  mulcts.  (Fcrdinandi 
de  Pulgar  Epistola?,  a  Juliano  Magon,  p.  17-19.) 

t  This  letter,  preserved  in  the  Koyal  Library  of  Madrid,  is  not  to 
be  found  in  the  edition  of  Ayora's  Letters.     (Llorente,  i.34'J.) 

(j  MartyrisEpistoloi,  ep.  31)3.  Martyr's  Letters,  being  published  out 
of  Spain,  escaped  the  hands  of  the  expurgatores. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  6t 

quemada,  the  first  inquisitor-general,  was  obliged  to 
adopt  the  greatest  precautions  for  his  personal  safety. 
In  his  journeys  he  was  uniformly  accompanied  by  a 
guard  of  fifty  familiars  on  horseback,  and  two  hun- 
dred on  foot ;  and  he  had  always  on  his  table  the  tusk 
of  a  wild  animal,  to  which  he  trusted  for  discovering 
and  neutralizing  poisons.*  In  Aragon,  where  the 
inhabitants  had  been  accustomed  to  the  old  Inquisi- 
tion for  two  centuries  and  a  half,  the  introduction  of 
it  in  its  new  form  excited  tumults  in  various  places, 
and  met  with  a  resistance  almost  national. t  No 
sooner  had  the  inhfibitants  of  Castile  felt  the  yoke, 
than  they  sought  to  throw  it  off;  and  the  cortes  of  that 
kingdom  joined  with  those  of  Aragon  and  Catalonia, 
in  representing  the  grievances  which  they  suff"ered 
from  the  Inquisition,  and  in  demanding  a  radical  re- 
form of  its  iniquitous  and  oppressive  laws.:]:  It  is 
unnecessary  to  say,  that  these  attempts,  which  were 
renewed  at  intervals  during  thirty  years  from  the  es- 
tablishment of  that  tribunal,  proved  finally  abortive. 

This  unfortunate  issue  was  in  no  small  degree 
owing  to  cardinal  Ximenes,  who  contributed  more 
than  any  other  individual  to  rivet  the  chams  of  poli- 
tical and  spiritual  despotism  on  his  native  country. 
Possessed  of  talents  which  enabled  him  to  foresee  the 
dire  effects  which  the  Inquisition  would  inevitably 
produce,  he  was  called  to  take  part  in  public  affairs 
at  a  time  when  these  eflects  had  decidedly  appeared. 
It  was  in  his  power  to  abolish  that  execrable  tribunal 
altogether  as  an  insufferable  nuisance,  or  at  least  to 
impose  such  checks  upon  its  procedure  as  would  have 
rendered  it  comparatively  harmless.  But  he  not  only 
allowed  himself  to  be  placed  at  its  head,  but  employ- 
ed all  his  influence  and  address  in  defeating  every  at- 
tempt to  reform  its  worst  and  most  glaring  abuses. 
In  1512,  the  New  Christians  made  an  offer  of  six 
hundred  thousand  crowns  to  Ferdinand,  to  assist  him 

»  Llorente,  chap.  vi.  art.  3 ;  Chap.  viii.  art.  6. 
t  Ibid.  chap,  vi,  art.  6. 

t  Ibid.  chap.  x.  art.  8;  chap.  xi.  art.  1,  2,  3.  Martyris  Epist.  ep. 
342,  370.    Quintanilla,  p.  169. 


88  HISTORY    OF    THE 

in  carrying  on  tho  war  in  Navarre,  on  condition  that 
a  law  were  passed  enjoining  the  testimonies  of  the 
witnesses,  in  processes  before  the  Inquisition,  to  be 
made  public.     With  the  view  of  diverting  the  king 
from  acceding  to  this  proposal,  Ximenes  seconded 
his  remonstrances  against  it  by  placing  a  large  sum 
of  money  at  the  royal  disposal.     And,  in  1516,  when 
a  similar  offer  was  made  to  the  ministers  of  Charles 
v.,  and  when  the  universities  and  learned  men  of 
Spain  and  Flanders  had  given  their  opinion,  that  the 
communication  of  the  names  and  depositions  of  the 
witnesses  was  conformable  both  to  divine  and  human 
laws,  the  cardinal  again  interposed,  and  by  messen- 
gers and  letters  urged  the  rejection  of  the  measure, 
upon  the  wretched  plea  that  a  certain  nameless  wit- 
ness had  been  assassinated,  and  that  the  person  of 
the  king  was  put  in  danger  by  the  admission  of  con- 
verted Jews  into  the  palace.*     He  exerted  himself 
with  equal  zeal  in  resisting  the  applications  which 
the  New  Christians  made  to  the  court  of  Rome  for 
the  same  object.!     During  the  eleven  years  that  he 
was  at  the  head  of  this  tribunal,  fifty -one  thousand, 
one  hundred  and  sixty-seven  persons  were  condenm- 
ed,  of  Avhom  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-six 
were  burnt  alive. J     Not  satisfied  with  perpetuating 
the  Inquisition  in  his  native  country,  he  extended  the 
precious  boon  to  two  quarters  of  the  globe,  by  estab- 
lishing one  tribunal  at  Oran  in  Africa,  and  another  at 
Cuba  in  America.     With  the  exception  of  the  check 
which,  at  the  commencement  of  his  ministry,  he  put 
on  the  mad  proceedings  of  the  inquisitor  Luzero,  who, 
by  listening  to  false  accusations,  had  harassed  the 
good  archbishop  of  Granada,  the  marquis  of  Pliego, 
and  many  of  the  most  respectable  persons  of  the  king- 
dom,§  the  reforms  which  the  cardinal  made  on  the  In- 

•  Quintanilla,  p.  173.     Llorente,  i.  365-367. 

t  Quintanilla,  ut  supra. 

t  Llorente,  iv  255. 

^  Martyris  Epist.  cp.  333,  334,  342,  370,393.  Quintanilla,  p.  168, 
161).  Llorente,  i.  345-353.  See  aUo  tiie  letter  of  the  arehbishop  to 
the  catholic  king,  published  in  Llorcnte's  Appendix,  no.  IX.  Martyr 
ppcaks  of  Luzero  as  condemned;  but  Quintanilla  says   he  was   pro- 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  89 

qiiisition  are  confined  to  the  substitution  of  a  St.  An- 
drew's cross,  in  place  of  the  ordinary  one,  on  the  san- 
benito,  and  the  allotment  of  separate  churches  for  the 
New  Christians.     If  mankind  were  to  be  treated  as 
their  foolish  admiration  of  talents  merits,  they  would 
be  left  to  groan  under  the  rod  of  oppression.*    Ximenes 
has  obtained  the  title  of  a  great  man,  from  foreigners 
as  well  as  natives  of  Spain.!     But  in  spite  of  the  eu- 
logiums  passed  upon  him,  I  cannot  help  being  of  opi- 
nion, with  a  modern  writer,^  that  Ximenes  bore  a 
striking  resemblance  to  Philip  IL,  with  this  difference, 
that  the  cardinal  was  possessed  of  higher  talents,  and 
that  his  proceedings  were  characterized  by  a  certain 
openness  and  impartiality,  the  result  of  the  unlimited 
confidence  Avhich  he  placed  in  his  own  powers.     His 
character  was  essentially  that  of  a  monk,  in  which  the 
severity  of  his  order  was  combined  with  the  impetu- 
osity of  blood  which  belongs  to  the  natives  of  the 
south. 

The  cardinal  would  be  still  more  inexcusable  if  he 
were  the  author  of  an  unpublished  work  which  has 
been  ascribed  to  him.  It  is  a  fictitious  composition, 
after  the  manner  of  the  Utopia  of  Sir  Thomas  More, 
and  treats  of  the  best  mode  of  governing  a  kingdom. 
In  one  part  of  it,  the  abuses  of  the  Holy  Office  are 
discussed  freely  and  at  large  in  the  presence  of  Pru- 
denciano,  monarch  of  the  kingdom  of  Truth,  who, 
after  hearing  the  inquisitors,  decides,  with  the  advice 
of  his  counsellors,  that  all  persons  accused  of  heresy 
shall  be  put  in  possession  of  the  names  and  deposi- 
tions of  the  witnesses;  that  they  shall  have  the  same 

nounced  innocent,  and  it  is  certain,  he  continued  to  enjoy  his  bishop- 
ric. After  settling  that  afFaii",  Ximenes  held  an  auto-de-fe,  in  which 
fifty  Jews  were  burnt  alive  ;  "  one  of  the  best  singeings  (says  Quin- 
tanilla)  that  had  yet  been  seen;" — "/a  niejor  chamusquina  que  se 
avia  visto." 

*  Llorente,  i.  359-361. 

t  As  an  instance  of  the  illusion  which  a  great  name  throws  over 
the  mind  of  an  impartial  writer,  it  may  be  noticed,  that  Llorente  be- 
gins his  account  of  the  number  of  victims  who  suffered  during  the 
time  that  Ximenes  was  inquisitor-general,  with  these  words;  "Xi- 
menes permitted  the  condemnation,"  &c.     (Tom.  i.  p.  360.) 

{  Sismondi. 

7 


90  HISTORY    OF    THE 

liberty  of  holding  intercourse  with  their  advocates, 
procurators  and  friends,  which  is  granted  to  other 
prisoners;  that  they  shall  not  be  excluded  from  the 
benefit  of  divine  service  during  their  confinement; 
that  New  Christians,  and  the  descendants  of  heretics, 
shall  be  admissible  to  all  offices,  and  exempted  from 
every  stigma;  that,  to  prevent  ignorant  convictions, 
the  tribunals  of  the  Inquisition  shall  be  provided  with 
judges  well  instructed  in  questions  of  faith;  that  the 
confiscation  of  the  goods  of  those  condemned  for 
heresy  shall  be  limited  to  the  property  which  they 
actually  possess  at  the  time,  and  shall  not  extend  to 
the  portions  which  they  had  previously  given  to  their 
married  children,  nor  interfere  with  the  fulfilment  of 
any  lawful  engagement  which  they  had  contracted; 
and  in  general,  that  processes  before  the  Inquisition 
shall  be  conducted  on  the  maxims  which  regulate 
other  courts  of  criminal  judicature.*  This  treatise, 
drawn  up  during  the  minority  of  Charles  V.,  was  in- 
tended for  the  instruction  of  that  young  prince,  and 
proves  that  Spain  possessed  at  that  time  persons  of 
superior  illumination;  but  we  may  safely  acquit  car- 
dinal Ximenes  from  the  suspicion  of  being  the  author 
of  a  work  containing  principles  of  liberal  policy  and 
enlightened  justice,  which  there  is  no  reason  to  think 
that  ghostly  statesman  ever  entertained  at  any  period 
of  his  life. 

The  history  of  the  Inquisition,  during  the  first  thirty 
years  after  its  erection,  discloses  a  series  of  intrigue, 
in  which  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  the  court  of  Rome, 
the  court  of  Spain,  or  the  Holy  Office,  acted  the  most 
deceitful  and  unprincipled  part.  While  they  com- 
bined to  oppress  and  impoverish  the  people  of  Spain, 
each  of  them  sought  to  overreach  the  other  and  to 
promote  its  own  selfish  designs.  The  court  of  Rome 
readily  gave  its  sanction  to  the  establishment  of  the 

*  Tlie  work  is  entitled  Del  resrimento  de  Principes,  and  is  preserv- 
ed in  MS.  in  the  library  of  St.  Isidore  at  Madrid.  That  part  of  it 
which  relates  to  the  Iiuiuisition  lias  been  published  by  Lloronte,  in 
the  appcndi.x  to  his  work,  No.  .\. ;  and  is  a  most  intercstincr  docuiiicnt. 
Llorentc  produces  no  evidence  to  support  his  opinion  tliat  it  was  the 
production  of  Ximenes, 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  91 

Inquisition;  and  Sixtus  IV.,  in  a  letter  to  queen  Isa- 
bella, signified  that  "he  had  felt  the  most  lively 
desire  to  see  it  introduced  into  the  kingdom  of  Cas- 
tile."* 

Notwithstanding  this,  the  papal  court  both  secretly 
and  openly  encouraged  the  New  Christians  to  appeal 
to  Rome,  reversed  the  sentences  which  the  Inquisition 
had  pronounced  against  them  in  Spain,  and  admitted 
them  to  reconciliation  in  secret.  But  after  it  had  ex- 
torted large  sums  of  money  for  these  favours,  no 
sooner  did  the  Spanish  monarch,  at  the  instigation  of 
the  inquisitors,  reclaim  against  these  proceedings,  than 
it  revoked  its  decisions,  suspended  the  execution  of 
its  bulls,  and  left  the  victims  of  its  avarice  and  dupli- 
city to  the  vengeance  of  their  incensed  persecutors.! 
It  was  evidently  on  the  same  avaricious  principle 
that  Leo  X.,  in  the  year  1517,  authorized  the  in- 
quisitors at  Rome  to  judge  in  complaints  of  heresy 
against  natives  of  Spain.  On  that  occasion,  Gerbni- 
mo  Vich,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  received  orders 
from  his  court  to  remonstrate  against  this  decree,  as 
inflicting  a  stigma  on  a  nation  which  had  testified 
such  zeal  for  the  Catholic  faith,  and  to  request  that 
the  remedy  against  heresy  should  be  applied  equally 
to  those  of  other  countries.  To  this  representation 
Leo  gravely  replied,  that  so  far  from  wishing  to  inflict 
a  disgrace,  he  had  intended  to  confer  an  honour  on 
the  Spanish  nation;  that  he  had  dealt  with  them  as  a 
rich  man  does  with  his  jewels,  which  he  guards  with 
greater  care  than  the  rest  of  his  property ;  and  thought 
that,  as  the  Spaniards  entertained  so  high  an  esteem 
for  the  Inquisition  at  home,  they  would  not  be  oftend- 
ed  with  it  abroad.:}: 

.  The  conduct  of  the  Inquisition  presented  the  same 
glaring  contradiction  of  the  avowed  principles  on 
which  it  was  founded.  Amidst  all  their  professions 
of  zeal  for  the  purity  of  the  faith,  the  inquisitors  car- 

*  Llorente,  i.  164. 

t  Ibid.  p.  239-256. 

t  The  despatch  of  the  Spanish  court  on  this  occasion,  and  tlie  re- 
ply made  to  the  ambassador,  are  given  by  Argensola,  in  his  Anales 
de  Aragon,  p.  373-376. 


92  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ried  on  the  scandalous  traffic  of  commuting  canonical 
censure  for  pecuniary  mulcts.  To  retain  Christians 
within  the  sacred  enclosure  of  the  catholic  clmrch, 
and  in  dutiful  subjection  to  its  supreme  head,  was  the 
grand  object  of  the  institution  of  the  Holy  Office; 
and  the  exercise  of  its  powers  was  delegated  to  the 
monks,  who  were  the  most  devoted  supporters  of  the 
Roman  pontiff,  and  held  that  his  decrees  in  matters  of 
faith,  when  pronounced  ex  calhedra,  were  infallible. 
Yet,  when  the  decrees  of  the  holy  see  were  opposite 
to  their  own  determinations,  or  interfered  with  their 
particular  interests,  they  made  no  scruple  of  resisting 
them,  and  engaging  the  government  of  the  country 
in  their  quarrel.* 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  conduct  of  the 
court  of  Spain  would  be  less  selfish.  All  are  agreed 
that  Ferdinand,  in  supporting  the  Inquisition,  regard- 
ed it,  not  as  a  means  of  preserving  the  purity  of  reli- 
gion, but  as  an  instrument  of  tyranny  and  extortion. 
Nor  was  his  grandson  Charles  V.  actuated  by  higher 
motives.  On  assuming  the  reins  of  government  in 
Spain,  he  swore  to  observe  certain  equivocal  regula- 
tions for  correcting  the  abuses  of  the  Inquisition;  but 
he  declared,  at  the  same  time,  in  private,  that  this 
promise  had  been  extorted  from  him  by  the  impor- 
tunity of  the  representatives  of  certain  cities.  Des- 
pairing of  any  relief  from  this  quarter,  the  cortes  of 
Aragon  sent  deputies  to  Rome,  and,  by  the  distribu- 
tion of  a  sum  of  money  among  the  cardinals,  obtained 
three  briefs  reforming  the  Inquisition,  and  placing  its 
procedure  on  the  footing  of  common  law.  Charles, 
who  wished  to  employ  that  formidable  tribunal  as  an 
engine  for  suppressing  the  tunuilts  which  his  arbitrary 
measures  had  excited  hi  various  parts  of  the  kingdom,* 
applied  to  Leo  X.  for  a  bull  animlhng  the  obnoxious 
briefs.  The  negotiation  whicli  ensued,  and  was  pro- 
tracted during  three  years,  is  equally  disgraceful  to 
both  parties.  His  HoHness  told  Senor  de  Belmonte, 
the  Spanish  ambassador,  tiiat  he  had  been  informed 
by  credible  persons,  that  the  Inquisition  was  the  cause 

*  Llorcnte,  i.  240,  247,  392,  395;  ii.  81. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  93 

of  terrible  mischief  in  Spain ;  to  which  the  ambassa- 
dor bhmtly  repUed,  that  the  persons  who  gave  this 
information  were  beheved,  because  they  were  hberal 
of  their  money.  At  the  same  time,  he  advised  his 
master  to  have  recourse  to  that  system  of  bribery  of 
which  he  complained.  "  Cardinal  Santiquatro  (writes 
he)  can  be  of  great  service  in  this  affair,  because  he 
draws  as  much  money  as  possible  to  his  master  and 
himself.  It  is  only  on  this  condition  that  he  is  autho- 
rized by  the  pope  to  act,  and  he  executes  his  task  with 
great  adroitness.  The  cardinal  of  Ancona  is  a  learn- 
ed man,  and  an  enemy  to  the  former.  He  is  minister 
of  justice,  and  can  be  useful,  as  he  is  well  disposed,  to 
serve  your  majesty;  but  he  is  reckoned  as  great  a 
thief  as  his  colleague."  In  another  missive  he  says, 
"  Always  I  am  assured  that,  in  what  relates  to  the 
Inquisition,  money  is  a  means  of  gaining  over  these 
cardinals."  And  after  soliciting  instructions  from  his 
court,  he  adds,  "  All  this  is  necessary,  and  something 
besides;  for  money  does  much  here.  The  pope  ex- 
pects (from  Aragon  and  Catalonia)  forty-six  or  forty- 
seven  thousand  ducats."  The  cardinals  were  too 
"wise  in  their  generation"  to  be  deceived  by  the 
flattering  representations  which  the  ambassador  made 
of  his  master's  disinterestedness,  and  laughed  at  the 
idea  of  sovereigns  supporting  the  Inquisition  "-  from 
pure  zeal  for  religion."  In  vain  did  Charles  himself 
endeavour  to  quicken  the  tardy  steps  of  Leo,  by  wri- 
ting that  "the  world  surmised  tiiat  his  Holiness  and  he 
understood  one  another,  and  wished  to  squeeze  as 
much  money  as  possible  from  the  bull  in  question." 
The  crafty  pontiff,  assuming  the  tone  of  justice,  threat- 
ened, by  a  decree  of  the  sacred  Rota,  to  annul  all  the 
sentences  of  confiscation  pronounced  against  those 
Spaniards  who  had  made  a  voluntary  confession  of 
heresy;  "  and  I  am  told,"  says  the  ambassador,  "  that 
if  this  measure  pass,  as  is  expected,  your  majesty  will 
be  obliged  to  restore  more  than  a  million  of  ducats 
acquired  in  that  way."*  A  few  persons,  through  per- 
version of  judgment,  have  burnt  men  alive  for  the 

*  Llorente,  chap.  xi.  art.  5. 


94  HISTORY    OF    THE 

love  of  God,  but,  in  the  greater  number  of  instances, 
I  apprehend  it  will  be  found  that  this  has  been  done 
for  the  love  of  money. 

Leo  X.,  having  died  during  this  dispute,  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Adrian,  the  preceptor  of  Charles  V.,  who 
continued  to  hold  the  situation  of  inquisitor-general  of 
Spain,  along  with  that  of  supreme  pontitf,  for  nearly 
two  years.  This  union  of  offices,  in  tlie  person  of  the 
spiritual  adviser  of  the  young  monarch,  led  to  mea- 
sures which  extinguished  every  hope  of  procurmg  a 
reform  of  the  Holy  Office.  Despairhig  of  relief,  the 
nation  submitted  to  the  yoke ;  habit  reconciled  them 
to  it;  and,  making  a  virtue  of  necessity,  they  soon 
came  to  congratulate  themselves  on  an  institution 
which  they  had  regarded  as  an  engine  of  the  most 
intolerable  and  degrading  servitude. 

Other  causes  contributed,  along  with  the  Inquisi- 
tion, to  rivet  the  chains  of  religious  bondage  on  the 
minds  of  the  Spaniards,  and  to  render  the  prospect  of 
ecclesiastical  reform  among  them  next  to  hopeless. 

One  of  these  causes  was  the  suppression  of  their 
civil  liberties.  Formerly  the  victims  of  persecution  had 
often  found  shelter  within  the  independent  domains 
of  the  nobles,  or  the  privileged  walls  of  great  cities. 
Cardinal  Ximenes,  by  flattering  the  commons  with- 
out adding  to  their  real  consequence,  had  succeeded 
in  breaking  the  power  of  the  nobility.  Charles  pur- 
sued the  line  of  policy  which  his  nhnister  had  begun, 
by  invading  the  rights  of  the  people.  Irritated  by 
the  assistance  which  the  latter  had  given  to  the  attack 
on  their  immunities,  the  nobles  either  stood  aloof  from 
the  contest  which  ensued,  or  sided  with  the  crown. 
The  consequence  was,  that  the  commons,  after  an  en- 
thusiastic resistance,  Avere  subdued;  the  cortes  and 
the  chartered  towns  were  stripped  of  their  privileges ; 
and  the  authority  of  the  sovereign  became  absolute 
and  despotical  throughout  the  united  kingdom. 

Tlie  great  accession  of  wealth  and  reputation  which 
Spain  had  acquired  by  the  discovery  of  the  New 
World,  proved  no  less  fatal  to  her  religious  than  to 
her  political  liberty.    Columbus  appears  to  have  been 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  95 

at  first  actuated  solely  by  an  enthusiastic  passion  for 
nautical  discovery;  but  during  the  discouragements 
with  which  his  ardent  and  unconquerable  spirit  had 
to  contend,  another  feeling  arose  of  a  no  less  power- 
ful kind,  which  was  cherished,  if  not  infused,  by  the 
monks  of  La  Rabida,  among  whom  he  resided  for 
some  time,  and  who  zealously  assisted  him  in  his  ap- 
plications to  the  court  of  Castile,  and  in  his  exertions 
to  fit  out  the  fleet  with  which  he  entered  on  his  daring 
enterprise.     His  imagination  was  now  fired  with  the 
idea  of  not  only  adding  to  the  boundaries  of  the  known 
world,  but  also  of  enlarging  the  pale  of  the  catholic 
church,  by  converting  to  the  Christian  faith  the  in- 
habitants of  those  rich  and  populous  countries  with 
which  he  hoped  to  open  a  communication,  by  stretch- 
ing across  the  waters  of  the  western  ocean.     Similar 
views,  but  associated  with  baser  feelings,  were  adop- 
ted by  the  successors  of  Columbus.     As  the  see  of 
Rome,  in  virtue  of  the  universal  authority  which  it 
arrogated,  had   granted  to    Spain  all   the   countries 
which  she  might  discover  beyond  the  Atlantic,  the 
conquerors  of  America  looked  upon  themselves  as  the 
servants  of  the  church  as  much  as  of  the  sovereigns 
from  whom  they  immediately  received  their  commis- 
sion; their  cupidity  was  inflamed  by  fanaticism;  and 
the  consideration  that  every  battle  which  they  won 
was  subservient  to  the  spread  of  the  catholic  faith, 
atoned  for  and  sanctified,  in  their  eyes,  the  unheard- 
of  cruelties  which  they  inflicted  on  the  intimidated 
and  unoffending  natives  of  the  New  World.     Sanc- 
tioned as  they  were  by  the  government  and  clergy, 
these  views  were  easily  diffused  through  the  nation. 
Astonished  at  the  intelligence  which  they  received 
from  their  countrymen  who  had  visited  the  newly- 
discovered   regions,  elated   by  the   splendid  success 
which  had  crowned  their  undertakings,  and  flushed 
with   the   hopes  of  the   inexhaustible  riches  which 
would  continue  to  flow  in  upon  them,  the  Spaniards 
were   thrown  into    a   feverish    intoxication,  which, 
meeting  with  other  causes,  produced  an  important 
change  on  their  sentiments  and  character.    New  feel- 


96  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ings  sprung  up  in  their  breasts ;  and  late  transactions 
were  seen  by  them  in  a  hght  different  from  that  in  which 
they  had  formerly  viewed  them.  Reflecting  that  they 
had  expelled  the  Jews,  the  hereditary  and  inveterate 
enemies  of  Christianity,  from  their  coasts,  overturned 
the  Mahomedan  empire  which  had  been  established  for 
ages  in  the  Peninsula,  and  planted  the  standard  of  the 
cross  among  pagans  on  a  new  continent  of  incalcula- 
ble extent,  they  began  to  consider  themselves  as  the 
favourites  of  heaven,  destined  to  propagate  and  de- 
fend the  true  faith,  and  bound,  by  national  honour  as 
well  as  duty,  to  preserve  their  sacred  soil  from  being 
polluted  by  the  slightest  taint  of  heretical  pravity. 

To  these  causes  must  be  added  the  vast  increase 
of  strength  which  the  Spanish  monarchy  received  by 
the  succession  of  its  youthful  sovereign  to  his  paternal 
dominions  in  the  Low  Countries,  Austria,  Bohemia, 
and  Hungary;  and  by  his  elevation  to  the  imperial 
throne  of  Germany,  under  the  name  of  Charles  V. 
The  chief  obstacle  which  this  presented  to  the  spread 
of  the  reformed  opinions  in  Spain,  did  not  lie  in  the 
ease  with  which  it  enabled  him  to  crush  the  least 
symptom  of  revolt  from  the  established  faith.  In- 
dependently of  all  personal  convictions,  Charles,  in 
seeking  to  realize  his  towering  projects  of  universal 
empire,  must  have  seen  it  his  interest  to  cultivate  the 
friendship  of  the  court  of  Rome;  and  although  he  was 
involved  in  contests  with  particular  pontiffs,  and  held 
one  of  them  for  some  time  a  prisoner  in  his  own  cas- 
tle, yet  he  uniformly  testified  the  warmest  regard  for 
the  catholic  faith,  and  the  honour  of  the  popedom. 
In  the  forcible  measures  to  which  he  had  recourse 
for  suppressing  the  Reformation  in  Germany,  he  re- 
lied chiefly  on  the  troops  which  he  drew  from  Spain, 
whose  detestation  of  heresy  was  heightened  by  the 
hostilities  which  they  waged  against  its  professors. 
To  their  countrymen  at  home,  who  already  regarded 
them  as  the  champions  of  the  faith,  they  transmitted  the 
most  hateful  representation  of  the  protestants,  whom 
they  described  as  at  once  the  pest  of  the  church,  and 
the  great  obstacle  to  the  execution  of  the  splendid 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  97 

schemes  of  their  beloved  monarch.  Thus  the  glory 
of  the  Spanish  arms  became  associated  with  the  ex- 
tirpation of  heresy.  And  when  the  protestant  cause 
ultimately  triumphed  over  the  policy  and  power  of 
the  emperor,  the  mortification  felt  by  the  Spaniards 
settled  into  a  deadly  antipathy  to  every  thing  which 
proceeded  from  Germany,  and  a  jealous  dread  lest  the 
heresy  with  which  it  was  infected  should  secretly  find 
its  way  into  their  own  country. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

INTRODUCTION    OF    THE    REFORMED    DOCTRINE    INTO    SPAIN. 

The  boldness  with  which  Luther  attacked,  first  the 
abuses,  and  afterwards  the  authority  of  the  Roman 
see,  soon  attracted  general  attention  throughout  Chris- 
tendom. Nor  could  his  opinions  remain  long  un- 
known in  Spain,  especially  after  the  intercourse  be- 
tween that  country  and  Germany  became  frequent, 
in  consequence  of  the  advancement  of  the  Spanish 
monarch  to  the  imperial  throne. 

So  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  year  1519,  John 
Froben,  a  celebrated  printer  at  Basle,  sent  to  Spain  a 
quantity  of  a  collection  of  tracts  by  Luther,  which  he 
had  lately  reprinted.*  These  were  in  Latin,  and  con- 
sequently were  confined  to  the  learned.  But,  in  the 
course  of  the  following  year,  the  reformer's  commen- 
tary on  the  Galatians,  a  work  which  exhibited  his 
doctrinal  sentiments  on  the  most  important  points, 
was  translated  into  Spanish.t  This  was  followed  by 
translations  into  the  same  language  of  his  treatise  on 

*  This  is  stated  in  a  letter  from  Froben  to  Luther,  dated  14  Feb. 
1519;  (Luther's  Samtliclie  Schriften,  edit.  Walch,  torn.  xv.  p.  1631, 
1632.)  and  in  a  letter  from  Wolfg.  Fabricius  Capito  to  the  same,  dated 
12  caiend.  Martii,  1519.  (Fabricii  Centifolium  Lutheranum,  tom.  i. 
p.  318.)  From  Froben's  letter  it  appears  that  he  had  also  sent  copies 
of  the  book  to  England. 

t  Beausobre,  Hist,  of  the  Reform,  vol.  i.  p.  262. 


98  HISTORY    OP    THE 

Christian  liberty,  and  his  reply  to  Erasmus  on  free- 
will.* These  books  appear  to  have  been  translated 
and  printed  at  Antwerp,  a  place  of  great  trade  within 
the  paternal  dominions  of  Charles  V.,  from  which  the 
Spanish  merchants,  who  were  at  the  expense  of  the 
publication,  could  most  easily  get  copies  conveyed  to 
their  native  country.! 

Alfonso  Valdes,  a  young  man  of  talents,  who  ac- 
companied Charles  V.,  as  secretary,  to  his  coronation 
in  1520,  sent  to  Spain,  at  the  request  of  Peter  Martyr, 
a  particular  account  of  the  religious  dispute  in  Ger- 
many, from  the  first  declaration  of  Luther  against 
indulgences  to  his  burning  of  the  pontifical  decrees 
at  Wittenberg.  In  another  letter,  written  during  the 
following  year,  he  continued  his  account  to  the  close 
of  the  diet  of  Worms.  His  narrative  is  in  general 
correct;  and  although  he  expresses  great  horror  at 
the  boldness  with  which  the  former  attacked  the 
papal  authority,  he  acknowledges  the  necessity  of  re- 
form, and  ascribes  the  continuance  of  the  evil  to  the 
aversion  of  the  pope  to  a  general  council,  and  "  his 
preferring  his  private  interest  to  the  public  good." 
"  While  he  tenaciously  adheres  to  his  rights,"  says 
he,  "  and  shutting  his  ears,  under  the  influence  of  a 
pious  feeling  perhaps,  wishes  to  have  Luther  devoted 
to  the  flames,  the  whole  Christian  commonwealth  is 
going  to  ruin,  if  God  interpose  not."  J  Martyr,  who 
seems  to  have  felt  in  the  same  way  with  his  corres- 
pondent, imparted  these  letters  to  his  friends;  but  it 
may  be  mentioned,  as  a  proof  of  the  state  of  feeling 
in  Spain,  that  he  declined  giving  them  any  account 
of  Luther's  opinions,  referring  them  for  this  to  the 
writings  of  his  opponents,  "  which  they  could  easily 

*  Gerdesii  Hist.  Reform,  torn.  iii.  168,  not.  g. 

+  Pallavicini,  Istor.  Concil.  Trent,  p.  33.  The  cardinal  says,  that 
the  persons  who  procured  tliese  works  "  must  have  sprung  from 
Moorish  blood;  for  who  would  suspect  the  Old  Christians  of  Spain 
of  such  an  action?" 

t  Valdes's  first  letter  is  dated  from  Brussels,  prid.  cal.  Sept.  1520; 
and  his  second  from  Worms,  3  id.  Maii,  \5'2\.  (Martyris  Epist.  cp. 
689,  722.)  There  is  some  reason  to  think  that  tlie  first  of  these  let- 
ters was  printed  at  the  time.     (Ukert,  Luther's  Leben,  ii.  100.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  99 

procure,  if  they  wished  them,  and  in  which  they 
would  find  the  antidote  along  with  the  poison."* 

Another  Spaniard  of  greater  authority,  who  was 
in  Germany  at  the  same  time,  felt  somewhat  differ- 
ently from  Valdes.  Francisco  de  Angelis,  provincial 
of  the  religious  order  called  Angeli  in  Spain,  had 
been  present  at  the  coronation  of  the  emperor,  by 
whom  he  was  despatched,  after  the  diet  of  Worms,  to 
assist  in  quelling  the  revolt  which  had  broken  out  in 
Castile.  On  his  way  home  he  stopped  at  Basle, 
where  he  had  a  long  conversation  with  Conrad  Pelli- 
can  on  the  opinions  of  Luther,  with  whom  he  profes- 
sed to  agree  upon  most  points.t 

Who  would  have  thought  of  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador at  Rome  writing  home  in  favour  of  Luther? 
We  have  already  adverted  to  the  difficulty  which 
Charles  found  in  procuring  the  recall  of  certain  briefs 
which  the  pope  had  issued  for  the  reform  of  the  In- 
quisition. It  occurred  to  Don  Juan  de  Manuel,  as  a 
stroke  of  policy,  that  his  master  should  give  counten- 
ance to  another  species  of  reform  which  his  Holiness 
dreaded.  Accordingly,  in  a  letter  dated  10  May 
1520,  he  advises  his  majesty  "to  undertake  a  journey 
to  Germany,  and  to  appear  to  show  a  little  favour  to 
a  certain  friar,  Martin  Luther,  at  the  court  of  Saxony, 
who  gives  great  uneasiness  to  the  sovereign  pontiff, 
by  certain  things  which  he  preaches  and  publishes 
against  the  papal  authority.  This  monk  (adds  the 
ambassador)  is  said  to  be  very  learned,  and  creates 
great  embarrassment  to  the  pope."  Nor  was  this  a 
mere  passing  thought;  for  he  recurs  to  the  subject  in 
a  subsequent  letter.  "  As  to  the  affair  of  Liege,  the 
pope  appears  much  more  discontented;  because  it 
has  been  told  him  that  the  bishop  favours  friar  Mar- 
tin Luther,  who  condemns  the  pontifical  power  in 
Germany.  He  is  also  displeased  with  Erasmus  in 
Holland,  and  for  the  same  reason.  I  say,  they  com- 
plain here  of  the  bishop  of  Liege  in  the  affair  of  Lu- 

*  Martyris  Epist.  p.  412. 

t  Vita  Pellicani :  Melch.  Adami  Vitae  Germ.  Theol.  p.  288. 


100  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ther,  who  gives  them  more  distress  than  they  could 
wish."* 

On  the  20th  of  March  1521,  Leo  X.  issued  two 
briefs,  one  addressed  to  the  constable  and  the  other  to 
the  admiral  of  Castile,  who  governed  the  kingdom  in 
the  absence  of  Charles  V.,  requiring  them  to  adopt 
measures  for  preventing  the  introduction  of  the  books 
of  Luther  and  his  defenders  into  Spain.  In  the  course 
of  the  following  month,  cardinal  Adrian  charged  the 
inquisitors  to  seize  all  books  of  this  description;  and 
this  charge  was  reiterated  by  him  in  the  year  1523, 
after  he  had  ascended  the  papal  throne,  on  which  oc- 
casion he  required  the  corregidor  of  Guipuscoa  to  fur- 
nish the  officers  of  the  Inquisition  with  every  assist- 
ance which  they  might  require  in  the  execution  of 
this  duty.t 

These  were  not  measures  of  mere  precaution,  or 
intended  only  for  the  purpose  of  display ;  for  the  works 
of  Luther  were  read  and  approved  of  in  Spain.  The 
report  of  this  fact  drew  from  Erasmus  the  sarcasm 
which  gave  great  oftence  to  the  Duke  of  Alva,  "  that 
the  Spaniards  favoured  Luther  in  order  that  they 
might  be  thought  Christians."!  So  eager  were  the 
inquisitors  in  their  search  after  the  disciples  of  the  new 
doctrine,  that  they  fixed  their  suspicions  on  the  vene- 
rable Juan  de  Avila,  commonly  called  the  apostle 
of  Andalusia.  In  his  preaching,  which  was  recom- 
mended by  the  exemplary  piety  and  charity  of  his 
life,  he  kept  to  the  simplicity  of  Scripture,  rejecting 
the  abstruse  and  foolish  questions  of  the  schools.  Ir- 
ritated by  his  reproofs,  and  envious  of  his  fame,  the 
monks,  in  1525,  donounced  to  the  Inquisition  some 
propositions  advanced  by  him,  as  Lutlieran,  or  sa- 
vouring of  Lutlieranism  and  the  doctrine  of  the  illu- 
minati.  He  was  thrown  into  prison  and  would  have 
been  condemned;  had  not  Manrique  one  of  the  mild- 
est of  the  inquisitors-general,  who  felt  a  high  respect 

*  Llorcnie,  i.  398. 
t  Llorcnte,  i.  41i),  457. 

t  Vives  Erasmo,  19  Jan.  1522 ;  Epistolaj  Thomce  Mori  et  Lud. 
Vives,  col.  yi. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  101 

for  his  character,  extended  to  him  the  shield  of  his 
powerful  protection,  which  did  not  however  prevent 
his  works  from  being  afterwards  put  into  the  list  of 
prohibited  books.''* 

The  Spanish  monks  were  diverted  for  a  time  from 
searching  after  the  writings  of  Luther,  by  their  anxi- 
ety to  suppress  those  of  Erasmus,  from  Avhich  they 
dreaded  more  immediate  danger.  This  learned  man, 
to  whom  the  name  of  the  forerunner  of  Luther  has 
not  unjusly  been  given,  had  many  friends  in  Spain, 
who  were  so  confident  in  their  strength,  as  to  write 
him  that  they  expected  to  be  victorious  in  the  contest. 
They  were  mistaken;  for  his  adversaries  outnumber- 
ed them  in  an  ecclesiastical  junta  held  at  Madrid  in  the 
year  1527;  and  in  consequence  of  this,  his  Colloquies, 
his  Praise  of  Folly,  and  his  Paraphrase  of  the  New 
Testament,  were  censured  and  prohibited  to  be  ex- 
plained in  Schools,  or  to  be  sold  or  read.t  "  How  I 
am  to  be  pitied !"  exclaims  he;  "  the  Lutherans  attack 
me  as  a  convicted  papist,  and  the  Catholics  run  me 
down  as  a  friend  of  Luther." 

The  patrons  of  ignorance  resolved  to  pursue  their 
victory,  and  prosecutions  for  heresy  were  immediate- 
ly commenced  against  some  of  the  most  learned  men 
in  the  kingdom.  Pedro  de  Lerma,  professor  of  divi- 
nity and  chancellor  of  the  university  of  Alcala,  was 
denounced  to  the  inquisition  of  Toledo,  as  suspected 
of  the   Lutheran  opinions,  and  fled  to    Paris.     His 

*  Llorente,  ii.  6,  7,  423.  Vivcs,  in  a  letter  to  Erasmus,  intimates 
that  Manrique  wished  to  restrain  the  furj'^  of  the  Inquisition.  (Epis- 
tolae,  ut  supra,  col.  109.) 

t  Erasmi  Epistolee,  ep.  884,  907,  910.  Burscheri  Spicilegia  Au- 
togr.  Erasm.  spic.  v.  p.  12,  20,  24.  Llorente,  i.  459-462.  A  Span- 
ish translation  of  the  Enchiridion  of  Erasmus  was  printed  in  1517, 
and  met  with  such  encouragement  that  it  was  intended  to  pub- 
lish his  Paraphrase  in  the  same  language.  Epistolse  T.  Mori  et.  L. 
Vives,  col.  107;  conf.  Schlegel,  Vita  ^palatini,  p.  Ill,  not.  1.)  Jolin 
Maldonat,  counsellor  to  Charles  V.,  in  a  letter,  dated  Burgos,  3  cal. 
Dec.  1527,  after  mentioning  a  Dominican  who  had  been  active  in 
inflaming  the  minds  of  his  brethren  against  Erasmus  adds,  "  He  has 
acted  in  the  same  way  with  certain  intermeddling  nuns,  and  with 
some  noble  w^omcn,  who  in  this  country  have  great  influence  over 
their  husbands  in  what  relates  to  religion."  (Burscheri  Spicil.  ut 
supra,  p.  24.) 


102  HISTORY    OF    THE 

nephew  and  successor,  Louis  de  Cadena,  soon  fell 
under  the  same  suspicion,  and  followed  his  example.* 
Juan  de  Vergara,  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Polyglot, 
and  his  brother  Bernardin  Tobar,  were  less  fortunate; 
for,  being  seized  by  the  orders  of  the  inquisitors  of 
Toledo,  they  were  not  permitted  to  leave  the  dun- 
geons of  the  Holy  Office,  until  they  had  abjured  the 
heresy  of  Luther  as  persons  slightly  suspected,  re- 
ceived absolution  ad  cautelam,  and  submitted  to 
certain  penances.t 

Two  events  which  happened  at  this  time  had  con- 
siderable influence  in  turning  the  attention  of  the 
Spaniards  to  the  cause  of  Luther,  and  giving  them  a 
more  favourable  impression  of  his  opinions.  The  first 
was  the  dispute  between  Charles  V.  and  pope  Cle- 
ment VII.,  which  led,  in  1527,  to  the  sack  of  Rome 
and  imprisonment  of  the  pontiff.  Though  Charles, 
on  that  occasion,  ordered  the  public  rejoicings  for  the 
birth  of  his  son  Philip  to  be  suspended,  as  a  mark  of 
his  sorroAV  for  so  untoward  an  occurrence,  yet  it  was 
regarded  as  a  triumph  by  the  nation,  and  gave  occa- 
sion to  satirical  ballads  against  the  pope  and  see  of 
Rome.t    The  other  event  was  the  presenting,  ni  1530, 

*  Llorentc,  ii.  430,  454.  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nova,  ii.  29.  Gomez, 
while  he  eulogizes  the  talents  and  services  of  Lcrma  and  Cadena, 
passes  over  the  cause  of  their  disgrace.  (Vita  Ximenii,  p.  79,  83, 
224,  225.) 

t  Llorente,  ii.  7,  8.  Vives,  in  a  letter  to  Erasmus,  10  May  1534, 
says,  "We  live  in  difficult  times,  in  which  one  can  neither  speak  nor 
be  silent  without  danger.  Vergara  and  his  brother  Tobar,  with  some 
other  learned  men  in  Spain,  have  been  apprehended."  (EpistoloB  T. 
Mori  et  L.  Vives,  col.  114.) 

X  The  following  is  a  specimen  of  one  of  the  poems  composed  at 
tiiat  time  in  Spain  : 

La  gran  sobervia  de  Roma  Gran  agua  cogc  la  bomba, 

Agora  Espana  la  refrena,  Menester  tlcnc  carena, 

Por  la  culpa  del  pastor  Por  la  culpa  del  piloto 

Ei  ganado  se  condena.  Que  la  rige  y  la  govierna. 

*              *              *  Dcpping,  Samnilung  der  bcsten 

El  governallc  quitado  alten  Spanischen  Romanzen, 

La  aguja  se  desgovierna,  p.  447. 

Wc  have  mentioned  elsewhere  the  ridicule  with  which  the  Ger- 
mans  in  the  imperial  army  treated  Clement  Vll.  during  his  imprison- 
ment.    (Hist,  of  the  Reformation  in  Italy,  p.  59-Gl.)  It  appears  that 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  103 

of  the  protestant  confession  of  faith  to  the  imperial 
diet  of  Augsburg,  at  which  Charles  was  present,  at- 
tended by  a  great  body  of  Spanish  nobles  and  clergy.* 
This  had  no  inconsiderable  effect  in  dissipating  the 
false  idea  of  the  opinions  of  Luther  which  had  hitherto 
been  industriously  propagated.  At  the  diet  of  Worms 
in  1521,  the  Spanish  attendants  of  the  emperor,  in- 
stead of  admirhig  the  heroism  displayed  by  Luther, 
treated  him  with  insult  as  he  retired  from  the  court- 
room to  his  lodgings.t  But  there  was  a  marked  dif- 
ference in  their  behaviour  on  the  present  occasion. 
Persons  of  note,  including  the  emperor's  confessor, 
who  was  a  native  of  Spain,  acknowledged  that  they 
had  hitherto  been  deceived.."}:  When  Charles  asked 
the  advice  of  the  Spanish  nobility  who  were  present, 
they  replied,  after  perusing  the  confession  in  a  French 
translation,  that  if  his  majesty  found  it  contrary  to  the 
articles  of  faith,  he  ought  to  suppress  the  Lutherans; 
but  if  it  merely  required  the  abolition  of  certain  cere- 
monies and  such  like  things,  he  ought  not  to  have 
recourse  to  violent  measures  against  them;  and  they 
gave  it  as  their  advice,  that  the  litigated  points  should 
be  submitted  to  some  pious  persons  who  were  addict- 
ed to  neither  party. §  Alfonso  Valdes,  the  emperor's 
secretary,  of  whom  we  have  already  spoken, ||  had 

the  Spaniards  took  part  in  the  scene.  They  composed  a  new  pater- 
noster in  verse,  with  which  they  serenaded  his  Holiness.  Tlie  follow- 
ing is  one  of  the  coplas,  alluding  to  his  claims  on  Milan; 

Padre  nuestro  en  quanto  Papa, 

Soys  Clemeynte,  sin  que  os  quadre  : 
Mas  reniego  yo  del  Padre, 

Que  al  hijo  quita  la  capa. 

Dos  Tratados,  p.  216. 

*  Buschingii  Comment,  de  Vestigiis  Lutheranismi  in  Hispania, 
§  2,  not.  (d.)     Goetting.  1755. 

t  Luther's  Samtliche  Schriften,  torn.  xv.  p.  2309. 

J  Christ.  Aug.  Salig,  Historic  der  Augspurgischen  Confession,  torn. 
i.  p.  225. 

§  This  is  tlic  advice  of  which  Melancthon  speaks  with  satisfac- 
tion, in  a  letter  to  Luther;  (Epist.  Melanch.  lib.  i.  ep.  5.)  and  which 
is  highly  praised  by  Spalatinus.  (Annales,  p.  143, 144.)  "  But  where 
were  these  pious  impartial  persons  to  be  found?"  says  Salig.  (His- 
toric, ut  supra,  p.  227.) 

II  See  above,  p.  98. 


104  HISTORY    OF    THE 

several  friendly  and  confidential  interviews  with  Me- 
lancthon  at  this  important  crisis.  He  read  the  Angs- 
burg  confession  before  it  was  presented  to  the  diet; 
and  the  only  objection  which  he  appears  to  have  made 
to  it  was,  that  its  language  was  rather  too  severe 
for  its  opponents."*  In  one  of  the  conversations  be- 
tween these  two  learned  men,  held  in  the  presence  of 
Cornelius  Scepper,  an  agent  of  the  king  of  Denmark, 
Melancthon  lamented  the  strong  prejudices  which  the 
natives  of  Spain  had  conceived  against  the  reformers, 
and  said,  that  he  had  frequently  endeavoured,  both 
by  word  of  mouth  and  by  letters,  to  convince  them 
of  the  misconceptions  under  wliich  they  laboured,  but 
with  very  little  success.  Valdes  acknowledged  that 
it  was  a  common  opinion  among  his  countr^aiien,  that 
Luther  and  his  followers  believed  neither  in  God  nor 
the  Trinity,  in  Christ  nor  the  Virgin;  and  that  in 
Spain  it  was  thought  as  meritorious  an  action  to  stran- 
gle a  Lutheran  as  to  shoot  a  Turk.t  He  added,  that 
his  influence  had  been  exerted  to  relieve  the  mind  of 
the  emperor  from  such  false  impressions;  and  that,  at 
a  late  interview,  he  had  received  it  in  charge  to  say, 
that  his  majesty  Avished  Melancthon  to  draw  up  a 
clear  summary  of  the  opinions  of  the  Lutherans,  con- 
trasted, article  by  article,  with  those  of  their  oppo- 
nents.    The  reformer  readily  complied  with  this  re- 

*  Melanchthonis  Epist.  lib.  iv.  ep.  05 ;  conf.  lib.  i.  cp,  2,  lib.  iv.  cp. 
99.  Valdes  translated  the  Augsburg  Confession  into  Spanish.  (Saiig-, 
i.  224.)  The  same  task  was  allerwards  performed  by  Sandoval.  (Fa- 
bricii  Centif.  Lutheran,  i.  111.)  But  it  is  probable  that  neither  of 
tliese  translations  was  printed.     Ukert,  Luther's  Leben,  i.  279.) 

t  The  followino-  is  a  specimen  of  the  manner  in  which  the  Spanish 
poets  were  accustomed  to  couple  the  reformers  with  the  worst  here- 
tics and  greatest  enemies  of  religion: 

El  Germano  Martin  la  despedaza : 

Arrio,  Sabclio,  Helvidio  y  Justiniano 

Sigucn  de  Cristo  la  liomicida  caza, 

Calvino  con  Pclngio  y  el  Ncstoriano 

Como  tras  fiera  van  tras  El  a.  caza : 

Quien  toma  picrna  o  pic,  quicn  brazo  o  mano  : 

Dcnuncia  gucrra  Acab  contra  iMi«juea, 

Y  Mulco  a  Dios  dc  nucvo  abofctea. 

Francisco  de  Akiana,  Obras  :  Florcsta  de  Rimas 
Antiguas  Castellanas,  vol.  i.  p.  1£0. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  105 

quest,  and  the  result  of  his  labours  was  communicated 
by  Valdes  to  Campegio,  the  papal  legate.* 

These  proceedings  did  not  escape  the  vigilant  eye 
of  the  Inquisition.  When  Valdes  returned  soon  after 
to  his  native  country,  he  was  accused  before  the  Holy 
Office,  and  condemned  as  a  suspected  Lutheran;  a 
censure  which  he  incurred  by  his  exertions  to  pro- 
mote polite  letters  in  his  native  country,  as  well  as 
by  the  familiarity  which  he  had  cultivated  with  the 
reformers  of  Germany.!  Alfonso  de  Virves  met  with 
the  same  treatment  as  his  friend  Valdes,  and  for  the 
same  reasons.  This  learned  Benedictine  was  chap- 
lain to  Charles  V.  who  had  taken  him  along  with 
him  in  his  late  visits  to  Germany,  and  was  so  fond  of 
him  that,  on  his  return  to  Spain,  he  would  hear  no 
other  preacher.  Virves  had  favoured,  though  with 
much  reserve,  the  writings  of  Erasmus,  and  was 
known  to  have  conversed  with  some  of  the  principal 
reformers. f  On  these  grounds  his  conduct  was  watch- 
ed, and  he  soon  found  himself  in  the  hands  of  the  in- 
quisitors at  Seville.  In  vain  did  he  appeal  to  a  work 
against  Melancthon  which  he  had  prepared  for  the 
press;  and,  what  is  more  singular,  in  vain  did  the 
emperor  interpose  to  stop  the  process,  banish  the  in- 
quisitor-general from  Seville,  and  signify  his  displea- 
sure against  the  other  members  of  the  council  of  the 
Supreme.  VirA^es  was  kept  in  the  secret  prisons  for 
four  years,  during  which,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  he 
was  occupied,  without  breathing  or  respite,  with 
charges,  replies,  rejoinders,  depositions,  defences,  ar- 

*  Salig,  i.  186,  187.  Schlegel,  VitaSpalatini,  p.  121, 122.  Coeles- 
tin  has  inserted  what  he  considered  as  the  paper  referred  to,  consist- 
ing of  seventeen  articles.  (Hist.  Aug.  Comit.  torn.  i.  f.  94.)  But 
Seckendorf  isof  opinion  that  it  is  not  the  work  of  Melancthon.  (Hist. 
Lutheranismi,  lib.  ii.  p.  166.) 

t  Llorente,  ii.  280,  281.     Burscheri  Spicil.  v.  p.  17,  20. 

t  In  a  letter,  dated  Valeoleti,  13  kal.  Jun.  1527,  Virves  blames 
Erasmus  for  taking  freedoms  in  his  writings  w^hich  were  offensive  to 
himself  and  others  of  his  friends.  In  another  letter  to  him,  dated 
Ratispona,  15  April,  1532,  he  says,  "  In  the  mean  time  I  am  busy 
with  preaching,  having  this  for  my  object,  that  if  I  cannot  reclaim 
the  Germans  from  error,  I  may  at  least  preserve  the  Spaniards  from 
infection."     (Burscheri  Spicil.  v.  p.  12-14,  16.) 

8 


106  HISTORY    OF    THE 

guments,  acts,  (words,  the  very  utterance  of  which 
made  him  slmdder)  errors,  heresies,  schisms,  blas- 
phemies, anatliemas."  At  last,  in  1537,  a  definitive 
sentence  was  pronounced,  condemning  him,  as  sus- 
pected of  holding  the  errors  of  Luther,  to  make  a  for- 
mal abjuration,  to  be  absolved  ad  caiitelam,  to  be 
confined  in  a  monastery  for  two  years,  and  to  be  pro- 
hibited from  preaching  for  other  two  years.  He  was 
accordingly  obliged  to  abjure,  on  the  day  of  his  auto- 
de~fe  in  the  metropolitan  church  of  Seville,  all  the 
heresies  of  Luther  in  general,  and  those  in  particular 
which  he  was  suspected  of  entertaining.  The  empe- 
ror procured  a  brief  from  the  pope,  absolving  his 
favourite  preacher  from  the  remaming  pains  of  cen- 
sure ;  but  when  he  afterwards  presented  him  to  the 
bishopric  of  the  Canaries,  it  was  with  the  utmost  re- 
luctance that  his  Holiness  granted  the  bull  of  confir- 
mation to  a  man  who  had  incurred  the  suspicion  of 
heresy  m  the  eyes  of  the  Inquisition.^  "  Many  have 
adopted  the  maxim,"  says  Virves,  speaking  of  the 
proper  manner  of  converting  heretics,  "  that  it  is  law- 
ful to  abuse  a  heretic  by  word  and  writing,  when 
they  have  it  not  in  their  power  to  kill  or  torture  him. 
If  they  get  a  poor  man,  whom  they  can  persecute 
with  impunity,  into  their  hands,  they  subject  him  to 
a  disgraceful  sentence;  so  that,  though  he  prove  him- 
self innocent  and  obtain  an  acquittal,  he  is  stigmatized 
for  life  as  a  criminal.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  un- 
happy person  has  fallen  into  error  through  inadver- 
tence, or  the  conversation  of  those  with  whom  he 
associated,  his  judges  do  not  labour  to  undeceive  him 
by  explaining  the  doctrine  of  Scripture,  soft  persua- 
sion, and  paternal  advice,  but,  in  spite  of  the  charac- 
ter of  fathers  to  which  they  lay  claim,  have  recourse 
to  the  prison,  the  torture,  chains,  and  the  axe.  And 
what  is  the  ell'ect  of  these  horrible  means?  All  these 
torments  hiilictcd  on  the  body  can  produce  no  change 
whatever  on  the  dispositions  of  the  mind,  which  can 
be  brought  back  to  the  truth  only  by  the  word  of 

*  Llorente,  ii.  8-14. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  107 

God,  which  is  quick,  powerful,  and  sharper  than  a 
two-edged  sword/'* 

These  reflections  are  so  excellent  in  themselves,  and 
so  refreshing  as  coming  from  the  pen  of  a  Spanish 
catholic  of  the  sixteenth  century,  that,  in  reading  them, 
we  feel  disposed  to  rejoice,  instead  of  grieving  at  that 
imprisonment  which,  if  it  did  not  suggest  them,  must 
have  served  to  deepen  their  impression  on  his  mind. 
No  thanks,  however,  to  the  persecutors.  Some  wri- 
ters have  expressed  their  surprise  that  the  proceed- 
ings against  Virves  and  others  did  not  open  the  eyes 
of  Charles  V.  to  the  iniquity  of  the  Inquisition;  and 
they  think  he  continued  to  be  its  protector  from  hor- 
ror at  Lutheranism.t  But  Charles  was  instructed  in 
the  nature  of  that  court,  and  had  given  it  his  decided 
support,  before  the  name  of  Luther  became  formida- 
ble. A  despotical  monarch  may  be  displeased  at  the 
procedure  of  a  tribunal  of  terror  when  it  happens  to 
touch  one  of  his  favourites,  and  may  choose  to  check 
its  encroachments  on  his  own  authority,  without  feel- 
ing the  slightest  wish  to  weaken  its  power  as  an  en- 
gine for  enslaving  and  oppressing  his  subjects. 

In  the  mean  time  every  method  was  taken  to  pre- 
vent the  spread  of  Lutheran  books  and  opinions.  The 
council  of  the  Supreme,  in  1530,  addressed  a  circular 
letter  to  the  inquisitors  dispersed  over  the  kingdom, 
informing  them  that  the  writings  of  Luther  had  made 
their  way  into  the  country  under  fictitious  names,  and 
that  his  errors  were  introduced  in  the  form  of  notes 
appended  to  the  works  of  catholic  authors;  and  there- 
fore requiring  them  to  add  to  the  annual  edict  of  de- 
nunciation a  clause  relating  to  such  books,  and  to  ex- 
amine all  public  libraries  with  the  view  of  discovering 
them.  This  led  to  the  domiciliary  visits  which  the 
familiars  of  the  Inquisition  were  accustomed,  at  a  sub- 
sequent period,  to  pay  to  private  houses.  During  the 
following  year  the  inquisitors  were  authorized  to  strike 
with  the  sentence  of  excommunication  all  who  hinder- 
ed them  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty,  and  all  who 

*  Virves,  Philippicae  Disputationes,  apud  Llorente,  ii.  15. 
t  Llorente,  ii.  13. 


108  HISTORY    OF    THE 

read  or  kept  such  books,  or  who  did  not  denounce 
those  whom  tliey  knew  to  be  guilty  of  that  otience. 
The  same  penaUy  was  extended  to  the  parish  priests 
who  did  not  publish  the  edict  m  every  city,  town,  and 
village ;  and  all  prelates  of  the  regular  orders,  confes- 
sors, and  preachers,  were  laid  under  an  obligation  to 
urge  their  hearers  and  penitents,  under  the  pain  of  in- 
curring mortal  sin,  to  inform  against  themselves  and 
others.  The  edict  enumerated  the  different  articles  of 
the  Lutheran  heresy,  down  to  the  slightest  deviation 
from  the  ceremonies  of  the  church,  and  required  the 
mformers  to  declare  ^'if  they  knew  or  had  heard  it 
said,  that  any  person  had  taught,  maintained,  or  enter- 
tained in  his  thoughts,  any  of  these  opinions."* 

Hitherto  we  have  not  met  with  a  single  Spaniard 
who  avowed  the  reformed  tenets,  or  who  was  con- 
victed on  good  grounds  of  holding  them.     We  have 
every  reason,  however,  to  think  that  there  were  per- 
sons of  this  description  in  Spain,  though  their  names 
have  not  come  down  to  us.     If  this  had  not  been  the 
case,  the  mquisitors  would  have  been  guilty  of  the 
grossest  indiscretion,  in  exposing  the  ears  of  the  peo- 
ple to  the  risk  of  infection  by  publishing,  with  such 
particularity,  the  opinions  of  the  German  heretic  in 
every  parish  church  of  the  kingdom.     Yet  it  must  be 
acknowledged   that,  in  their   eagerness   to   discover 
what  did  not  exist,  and  to  aggravate  the  slightest  de- 
viation from  the  received  faith  into  a  dangerous  error, 
they  were  sometimes    instrumental    in    propagating 
what  they  sought  to  extirpate.    A  simple  countryman 
was  brought  before  the  inquisitors  of  Seville,  accused 
of  having  said  among  his  friends,  that  he  did  not 
think  there  was  any  purgatory  but  the  blood  of  Christ, 
He  confessed  that  he  had  thought  so,  but,  understand- 
ing that  it  was  oifensive  to  the  holy  fathers,  declared 
himself  ready  to  retract  the  sentiment.     This  was  by 
no  means  satisfactory  to  the  inquisitors,  who  told  him, 
that  by  adopting  that  one  error  he  had  involved  him- 
self in  a  multitude;  for,  if  there  was  no  purgatory, 

»  Llorcnte,  i.  457-459;  ii.  1,  2. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  109 

then  the  pope,  who  had  decreed  the  contrary  was 
not  infallible,  then  general  councils  had  erred,  then 
justification  was  by  faith;  and  so  on.  In  vain  did 
the  poor  man  protest  that  such  ideas  had  never  once 
entered  into  his  mind;  he  was  remanded  to  prison 
until  he  should  be  prepared  to  retract  them.  The  con- 
sequence was,  that  he  was  led  seriously  to  think  on 
these  topics,  and  came  out  of  the  Inquisition  a  con- 
firmed Lutheran.* 

The  study  of  polite  letters  had  been  communicated 
from  Spain  to  Portugal,!  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
reformed  opinions  proceeded  in  the  same  course.  As 
early  as  1521,  Emanuel,  the  Portuguese  monarch,  ad- 
dressed a  letter  to  the  elector  of  Saxony,  nrging  him 
to  punish  Luther,  and  extirpate  his  pernicious  tenets, 
before  they  should  spread  further  in  Germany  and 
penetrate  into  other  Christian  countries.:!:  In  1534, 
pope  Clement  VII.  being  informed  that  the  reformed 
opinions  were  daily  making  progress  in  Portugal,  ap- 
pointed Diego  de  Silva  as  inquisitor  of  that  kingdom ; 
and,  in  the  following  year,  we  find  the  king  repre- 
sentinof  to  the  court  of  Rome  that  a  number  of  the  con- 
verted  Jews  had  become  Protestants.  § 

It  has  been  conjectured  that  the  first  converts  to 
the  reformed  doctrine  in  Spain  belonged  to  the  reli- 
gious fraternity  of  Franciscans,  because  the  pope,  in 
1526,  granted  power  to  the  general  and  provincials  of 
that  order  to  absolve  such  of  their  brethren  as  had  im- 
bibed the  new  opinions,  and  were  willing  to  abjure 
them.  II     But  this  is  rather  to  be  viewed  in  the  light  of 

*  Reginaldus  Gonsalvius  Montanus,  Inquisitionis  Hispanicae  Artes 
Detectas,  p.  31-33.     Heydelbergse,  1567,  8vo. 

t  An  accurate  account  of  the  state  of  learning  in  Portugal  during 
the  first  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  is  given  by  Dr.  Irving  in  his 
Memoirs  of  Buchanan,  p.  75-88.  Diego  Sigea  is  said  by  Vassaeus, 
in  his  Chronicle  of  Spain,  to  have  been  the  first  or  among  the  first 
restorers  of  polite  letters  in  Portugal.  He  was  the  father  of  two  learn- 
ed females,  Luisa  and  Angela,  the  former  of  whom  was  skilled  in 
Hebrew,  Syriac,  and  Arabic,  as  well  as  in  Latin  and  Greek.  (Colo- 
mesii  Italia  et  Hispania  Orientalis,  p.  236,  237.  Antonii  Eibl.  Hisp. 
Nov.  tom.  ii.  p.  71,  72.) 

t  Fabricii  Centifol.  Luth.  tom.  i.  p.  85-88. 

§  Llorente,  ii.  100.  II  Ibid.  p.  4. 


110  HISTORY    OF    THE 

a  privilege,  craved  by  the  Franciscans  to  exempt  them 
from  the  jmisdiction  of  the  inquisitors,  who  were  at 
first  chosen  from  the  rival  order  of  Dominicans.  Few 
of  those  who  afterwards  became  Protestants  belonged 
to  the  brotherhood  of  St.  Francis. 

Juan  Valdes,  with  whom  we  have  met  elsewhere,* 
was  the  first  person,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  who  em- 
braced and  was  active  in  spreading  the  reformed  opi- 
nions in  Spain.     He  was  of  a  good  family,  and  had 
received  a  liberal  education.     If  we  may  judge  from 
those  with  whom  he  was  on  terms  of  intimacy,  he  had 
studied  at  the  university  of  Alcala.    Having  attached 
himself  to  the  court,  he  quitted  Spain  about  the  year 
1535  in  the  company  of  Charles  V.,  who  sent  him 
to  Naples  to  act  as  a  secretary  to  the  viceroy.!    The 
common  opinion  has  been  that  he  became  a  convert 
to  the  Lutheran  creed  in  Germany,  but  the  fact  is, 
that  his  mind  was  imbued  with  its  leading  tenets  be- 
fore he  left  his  native  country.     This  appears  from  a 
treatise  drawn  up  by  him  under  the  title  of  Advice  on 
the  Interpreters  of  Sacred  Scripture,  which  was  circu- 
lated privately  among  his  acquaintance.   It  was  origi- 
nally sent  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  his  friend  Barto- 
lome  Carranza,  who  afterwards  became  archbishop 
of  Toledo,  but  had  early  incurred  the  suspicions  of 
the  Holy  Office  by  the  freedom  of  his  opinions.  J   This 
tract  was  found  among  the  papers  of  the   primate 
when  he  was  subsequently  seized  by  the  order  of  the 
Inquisition,  and  formed  one  of  the  gravest  articles  of 
charge  against  that  distinguished  and  long-persecuted 
prelate.     The  Advice  contahied  the  following  propo- 
sitions, among  others :   first,  that  in  order  to  under- 
stand the  Sacred  Scriptures,  we  must  not  rely  on  the 
interpretations  of  the  fathers;  second,  that  we  are  jus- 

*  History  of  the  Reformation  in  Italy,  p.  16,  121,  122. 

I  Llorentc  is  disposed  to  identify  liiin  with  Alfonso  Valdes,  whom 
we  have  already  mentioned,  and  to  call  him  Juan  Alfonso  Valdes. 
(ii.  478;  iii.  221.)  But  they  were  evidently  diflerent  persons.  The 
latter  was  a  priest;  (sec  IJurscheri  Spicil.  v.  p.  17.)  the  former  was 
a  knight:  the  latter  is  styled  secretary  to  Charles  V.;  tlie  former, 
royal  secretary  at  Naples. 

I  Llorente,  iii.  185-187. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  Ill 

tified  by  a  lively  faith  in  the  passion  and  death  of  our 
Saviour ;  and  third,  that  we  may  attain  to  certainty 
concerning  our  justification.  The  agreement  between 
these  and  the  leading  sentiments  maintained  by  Lu- 
ther, renders  it  highly  probable  that  Valdes  had  read 
the  writings  of  that  reformer  or  of  some  of  his  ad- 
herents. At  the  same  time  we  are  told  that  the  prin- 
cipal things  in  this  tract  were  taken  from  the  Chris- 
tian Institutes  of  Tauler.*  This  fact  throws  light  on 
the  sentiments  of  Valdes,  and  the  peculiar  cast  of  his 
writings.  John  Tauler  was  a  distinguished  German 
preacher  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  one  of  those 
writers  in  the  church  of  Rome  who  have  obtained  the 
name  of  mystics.  They  were  disgusted  with  the  in- 
tricate and  jejune  theology  of  the  scholastic  divines, 
and  with  the  routine  of  exterior  services  which  con- 
stituted the  whole  practice  of  piety  in  the  convents; 
but,  being  imperfectly  instructed  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
gospel,  in  flying  from  the  vice  of  their  age  they  fell 
into  the  opposite  extreme.  They  resolved  religion  al- 
most entirely  into  contemplation  and  meditation;  their 
discourses,  consisting  of  soliloquies  on  the  love  of  God 
and  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  were  chiefly  calculated  to 
stimulate  the  passions ;  and  they  occasionally  made  use 
of  extravagant  and  hyperbolical  expressions,  which 
implied  that  the  soul  of  the  devotee  was  absorbed  in 
the  divine  essence,  and,  when  favoured  with  super- 
natural visitations,  Avas  rendered  independent  upon 
and  superior  to  external  means  and  ordinances.  The 
Exercises,  or  meditations,  on  the  life  of  Christ  by 
Tauler  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  better-known 
work  of  Thomas  a  Kempis  on  the  Imitation  of  Christ. 
They  have  the  same  excellencies  and  the  same  faults ; 
breathe  the  same  rich  odour  of  spiritual  devotion,  and 
labour  under  the  same  deficiency  of  clear  and  distinct 
views  of  divine  truth.t     Those  who  are  well  ground- 

*  Llorente,  ii.  478  ;  iii.  221,  244,  245. 

t  Marco  Antonio  Flaniinio,  in  a  letter  to  Carlo  Gualteruccio,  lias 
given  a  just  character  of  the  work  of  Thomas  a  Kempis.  After  re- 
commending it  highly,  he  says,  "One  fault  I  find  with  this  book;  I 
do  not  approve  of  the  way  of  tear  which  he  recommends.  Not  that  I 
would  set  aside  every  kind  of  fear,  but  merely  penal  fear,  which  pro- 


112  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ed  in  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  may  reap  great  ad- 
vantage from  a  perusal  of  them;  candidates  for  the 
ministry  will  find  in  them  an  excellent  supplement  to 
a  course  of  systematic  divinity;  but  in  minds  warm 
and  uninformed  they  are  apt  to  foster  a  self-righteous 
and  servile  disposition,  and  to  give  rise  to  enthusiastic 
notions.* 

The  mystic  theology  had  its  votaries  in  Spain.  A 
Spanish  translation  of  the  Imitation  of  Christ,  and 
ot  an  earlier  work  of  the  same  character,  entitled  the 
Ladder  of  Paradise,  were  published  at  the  close  of 
the  fifteenth  century.t  Juan  de  Avila,  Luis  de  Gra- 
nada, confessor  to  the  queen  regent  of  Portugal,  and 
St.  Francis  de  Borgia,  duke  of  Gandia,  and  tliird 
general  of  the  order  of  Jesuits,  were  the  authors  of 
works,  for  which  they  were'  prosecuted  before  the 
Inquisition  as  mystics  and  illuminati.j:  Several  of  the 
Protestants,  who  were  afterwards  brought  to  the  stake 
at  Valladolid,  appealed  to  the  writings  of  the  two  last- 
named  individuals  as  containing  sentiments  similar  to 
those  which  they  held  on  the  head  of  justification. "§ 

Valdes  may  have  become  acquainted  with  the  writ- 
ings of  Tauler  through  the  recommendation  of  Luther, 
who,  at  one  period  of  his  life,  was  enamoured  with 
them,  and  republished,  with  a  commendatory  preface, 
a  work  written  in  the  same  strain,  but  more  liable  to 
exception,  under  the  title  of  German  Theology.  In 
a  letter  to  his  friend  Spalatin,  the  reformer  says,  "  If 

ceeds  either  from  unbelief  or  weak  faith."  The  wliole  letter  is  ex- 
cellent. Cardinal  Quirini  produced  it  with  the  view  of  showing  that 
the  writer  was  not  a  Protestant,  whereas  there  cannot  be  a  stronger 
proof  to  the  contrary,  so  far  as  doctrine  is  concerned.  (^Quirini  Pros- 
fat.  p.  69,  70.  ad  CoHect.  Epist.  Poll,  vol.  iii.) 

*  The  most  distinguished  of  the  mystic  authors  of  the  middle  ages, 
besides  A  Kempis  and  Tauler,  were  Ruysbrok  and  Harph.  Those 
who  wish  information  respecting  this  class  of  writers,  will  find  it  in 
Gottf  Arnoldi  Ilistoria  Theologioe  IMystica;  Vetcris  et  Novae ;  in 
Andr.  de  Saussay  de  Mysticis  Galliic  Scriptoribus;  and  in  the  Pre- 
face to  the  edition  of  Taulcr's  works  by  Philip  James  Spener. 

t  Pelliccr,  Ensavo.  p.  124-134. 

t  Llorcnte,  iii.  103-107,  123.  The  illuminati  of  Spain  in  the  16th 
century,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  accounts  of  the  inquisitors,  resem- 
bled the  quakers  rather  more  tlian  the  quictists  of  France.  (.lb.  ii.  3.) 

§  Ibid.  iii.  p.  106, 123. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  113 

you  wish  to  read  in  your  own  language  the  ancient 
and  pure  divinity,  procure  Tauler's  sermons,  of  which 
I  now  send  you  an  abstract;  for  no  where,  either  in 
Latin  or  German,  have  I  met  with  a  theology  more 
wholesome  and  accordant  to  the  gospel."*  The  doc- 
trines of  justification  by  faith  in  Christ,  and  of  regene- 
ration by  the  agency  of  the  Spirit,  form  the  ground- 
work in  the  writings  of  Valdes,  and  so  far  his  creed  is 
Lutheran  or  protestant;  but  we  can  trace  in  them  the 
influence  of  the  transcendental  divinity  which  he  had 
caught  from  Tauler.  More  intellectual  and  specula- 
tive than  the  mystic  divines,  he  exhibits  in  his  works 
the  rationale  of  their  creed  rather  than  an  exemplifi- 
cation of  their  mode  in  writing,  and  hazards  some 
sentiments  which  gave  just  ofi'ence  to  several  of  the 
principal  reformers.!  It  is  amusing  to  observe  his 
natural  inquisitiveness  contending  with  and  overcom- 
ing that  principle  in  his  creed  which  led  him  to  con- 
demn as  sinful  all  curious  inquiries  into  matters  of  re- 
ligion, or  indeed  into  any  other  matter. 

Valdes  left  his  native  country  at  an  early  period, 
but  he  contributed  greatly  to  the  spread  of  the  reform- 
ed opinions  in  it  by  his  writings,  several  of  which 
were  published  in  Spanish.  J     Though  he  had  remain- 

*  Luther's  Samtliche  Schriften,  torn.  xxi.  p.  566.  Philip  Marnix, 
Sieur  de  St.  Aldegonde,  had  a  less  favourable  opinion  of  Tauler,  whom 
he  calls  "  delirus  monachus."  He  was  afraid  of  certain  enthusiasts 
in  the  Low  Countries,  who  sought  to  gain  credit  to  their  cause  by 
the  name  of  that  preacher,  while  they  taught  that  God  was  the  soul 
of  the  universe,  and  deified  not  only  men  but  brutes  and  vegetables. 
(Scrinium  Antiquarium,  torn.  iv.  p.  544,  545.) 

t  Beza  was  chiefly  offended  with  Valdes  for  leading  his  readers 
from  the  Scriptures  to  revelations  of  the  Spirit.  That  he  had  good 
reason,  must  appear  to  any  one  who  reads  the  sixty-third  chapter  of 
the  Divine  Considerations.  Its  title  is,  "  By  seven  conformities  is 
shewed  that  the  Holy  Scripture  is  like  a  candle  in  a  dark  place,  and 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  like  the  sun."  To  the  English  translation  of 
the  work,  printed  in  1646,  George  Herbert  added  notes,  qualifying 
the  most  exceptionable  passages. 

I  His  commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  was  published  in 
Spanish  at  Venice  in  1556,  with  a  dedication,  by  his  countryman 
Juan  Perez,  to  Julia  Gonzaga.  (Gcrdesii  Italia  Reformata,  p.  344.) 
The  following  is  the  title  of  another  of  his  commentaries:  "  Com- 
mentario  breve,  6  dcclaracion  compendiosa,  y  familiar,  sobrc  la  pri- 
inera  epistola  de  San  Pablo  a  los  Corinthios,  mui  util  para  todos  los 


114  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ed,  his  personal  presence  would  most  probably  have 
produced  little  effect.  It  required  a  person  of  less 
caution  and  more  adventurous  spirit  to  burst  the  ter- 
rible barrier  which  opposed  the  entrance  of  the  gospel 
into  Spain,  and  to  raise  the  standard  of  truth  within 
sight  of  the  flames  of  the  Inquisition.  Such  a  person 
was  found  in  the  man  of  whom  I  am  now  to  speak. 

Rodrigo  de  Valer,  a  native  of  Lebrixa,  distant 
about  thirty  miles  from  Seville,  had  spent  his  youth 
in  those  idle  and  dissipated  habits  which  were  com- 
mon among  the  nobility  and  gentry  of  Spain.  The 
love  of  dress,  and  of  horses  and  sports,  engrossed  his 
attention;  and  in  Seville,  which  was  his  favourite 
residence,  he  shone  in  the  first  rank  among  the  young 
men  of  fashion  in  every  scene  of  amusement  and  feat 
of  gallantry.  All  of  a  sudden  he  disappeared  from 
those  places  of  entertainment  of  which  he  had  been 
the  life  and  ornament.  He  was  in  good  health,  and 
his  fortune  had  sustained  no  injury.  But  his  mind 
had  undergone  a  complete  change ;  his  splendid  equi- 
page was  laid  aside;  he  became  negligent  of  his 
dress;  and,  shut  up  in  his  closet,  he  devoted  himself 
entirely  to  reading  and  meditation  on  religion.  Had 
he  become  imexpectedly  pious,  and  immured  himself 
in  a  convent,  his  conduct  would  not  have  excited 
general  surprise  among  his  countrymen ;  but  to  retire 
from  the  world,  and  yet  to  shun  those  consecrated 
abodes,  the  choice  of  which  was  viewed  as  the  great 
and  almost  exclusive  mark  of  superior  sanctity,  ap- 
peared to  them  unaccountable  on  any  other  suppo- 
sition than  that  of  mental  derangement.     Valer  had 

amadorcs  de  la  piedad  Christiana."  In  the  Spanish  Index  Expurg. 
this  work  is  mentioned  both  with  and  without  the  author's  name. 
(Baylc,  Diet.  v.  Valdes.)  Schelhorn  promised  to  "produee  not  a  tew 
testimonies  to  the  truth"  from  a  work  by  the  same  autiior,  of  which 
two  editions  were  published  in  Italy,  translated  from  Spanisji,  and 
entitled,  "Due  Dialoghi:  I'uno  di  Mercurio  et  Caronte;  I'altro  di 
Lattantio  et  di  uno  Archidiaeono."  (Amccn.  Hist.  Ecel.  ct  Lit.  torn, 
ii.  p.  51.)  He  elsewhere  ascribes  to  him  a  work  entitled,  "Modo  di 
tenere,  nell'  insc<rnar  et  ncl  prediear,  al  principio  della  Relig^ion  C-hris- 
tiana."  (Erg^btzlichkeiten,  torn.  ii.  p.  31.  Both  these  works  are  in 
the  Index  Libr.  Prohib.  a.  1551).  I.lorente  makes  Valdes  the  author 
of  another  work,  which  he  calls  Acharo.     (ii.  478.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  115 

acquired  a  slight  acquaintance  with  the  Latin  lan- 
guage in  his  youth.  He  now  procured  a  copy  of  the 
Vulgate,  the  only  translation  of  the  Bible  permitted 
in  Spain;  and  having  by  dint  of  application,  by  day 
and  by  night,  made  himself  master  of  the  language, 
he,  in  a  short  time,  became  so  well  acquainted  with 
the  contents  of  the  Scriptures,  that  he  could  repeat 
almost  any  passage  in  them  from  memory,  and  ex- 
plain it  with  wonderful  promptitude  and  intelligence. 
Whether  he  had  any  other  means  of  instruction,  or 
what  these  were,  must  remain  a  secret ;  but  it  is  cer- 
tain that  he  was  led  to  form  a  system  of  doctrine  not 
different  from  that  of  the  reformers  of  Germany,  and 
to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  church  in  Seville  which 
was  Lutheran  in  all  the  main  articles  of  its  belief. 

When  Valer  had  informed  and  satisfied  his  mind 
as  to  the  truths  of  religion,  he  left  off  that  solitary  life 
which  had  been  chosen  by  him  as  an  instrument  and 
not  as  an  end.  He  now  returned  to  company,  but 
with  a  very  different  spirit  and  intention.  His  great 
desire  was  now  to  impart  to  others  those  impressions 
of  divine  truth  which  had  been  made  on  his  own 
mind.  With  this  view,  he  courted  the  society  of  the 
clergy  and  monks,  with  whom  he  dealt,  first  by  ar- 
gument and  persuasion,  and  afterwards  in  the  severer 
style  of  reproof.  He  set  before  them  the  general 
defection,  among  all  classes,  from  primitive  Christian- 
ity, both  as  to  faith  and  practice;  the  corruption  of 
their  own  order,  which  had  contributed  to  spread  in- 
fection over  the  whole  Christian  community;  and  the 
sacred  obligations  which  they  were  under  to  apply  a 
speedy  and  thorough  remedy  to  the  evil  before  it 
should  become  altogether  incurable.  These  repre- 
sentations were  uniformly  accompanied  with  an  ap- 
peal to  the  sacred  writings  as  the  supreme  standard 
in  religion,  and  with  an  exhibition  of  the  principal 
doctrines  which  they  taught.  When  the  clergy,  weary 
of  the  ungrateful  thenle,  shunned  his  company,  he 
threw  himself  in  their  way,  and  did  not  hesitate  to 
introduce  his  favourite  but  dangerous  topics  in  the 
public  walks  and  other  places  of  concourse.     His  ex- 


116  HISTORY    OF    THE 

hortations  were  not  entirely  without  success;  but  in 
most  instances  their  effects  were  such  as  might  have 
been  anticipated  from  the  situation  and  character  of 
those  to  whom  they  were  addressed.  The  surprise 
excited  by  his  first  address  gave  place  to  indignation 
and  disdain.  It  was  not  to  be  borne  that  a  layman, 
and  one  who  had  no  pretensions  to  learning,  should 
presume  to  instruct  his  teachers,  and  inveigh  against 
doctrines  and  institutions  which  were  held  in  rever- 
ence by  the  universal  church,  and  sanctioned  by  its 
highest  authority.  Whence  had  he  his  pretended 
knowledge  of  the  Scriptures?  Who  gave  him  a  right 
to  teach?  And  what  Avere  the  signs  and  proof  of  his 
mission?  To  these  questions  Valer  replied  with  can- 
dour, but  with  firmness.  That  it  was  true  he  had 
been  brought  up  in  ignorance  of  divine  things;  he 
had  derived  his  knowledge,  not  from  the  polluted 
streams  of  tradition  and  human  inventions,  but  from 
the  pure  fountain  of  revealed  truth,  through  the  teach- 
ing of  that  Spirit  by  whose  influence  living  waters 
are  made  to  flow  from  the  hearts  of  those  who  be- 
lieve in  Christ;  there  was  no  good  reason  for  sup- 
posing that  these  influences  were  confined  to  persons 
of  the  ecclesiastical  order,  especially  when  it  was  so 
deeply  depraved  as  at  present ;  private  and  illiterate 
men  had  convicted  a  learned  sanhedrim  of  blindness, 
and  called  a  whole  world  to  the  knowledge  of  salva- 
tion ;  he  had  the  authority  of  Christ  for  warning  them 
of  their  errors  and  vices;  and  none  would  require  a 
sign  from  him  but  a  spurious  and  degenerate  race, 
whose  eyes  could  not  bear  the  brightness  of  that  pure 
liglit  which  laid  open  and  reproved  their  works  of 
darkness. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  he  would  be  long 
permitted  to  continue  in  this  offensive  course.  He 
was  brought  before  the  inquisitors,  with  whom  he 
maintained  a  keen  dispute  on  the  church,  the  marks 
by  which  it  is  distinguished,  justification,  and  similar 
points.  On  that  occasion,  some  individuals  of  con- 
siderable authority,  who  had  secretly  imbibed  his 
sentiments,  exerted  themselves  in  his  favour.     Their 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  117 

influence,  joined  to  the  purity  of  his  descent,  the  sta- 
tion which  he  held  in  society,  and  the  circumstance 
that  his  judges  eitlier  beheved  or  wished  it  to  be  be- 
heved  that  lie  was  insane,  procured  for  him  a  milder 
sentence  than  that  jealous  and  inexorable  tribunal  was 
accustomed  to  pronounce.  He  was  dismissed  with 
the  loss  of  his  property.  But  neither  confiscation  of 
goods,  nor  the  fear  of  a  severer  punishment,  could  in- 
duce Yaler  to  alter  his  conduct.  He  yielded  so  far  to 
the  importunities  of  his  friends  as  to  abstain  from  a 
public  declaration  of  his  sentiments  for  a  short  time, 
during  which  he  explained  to  them  in  private  the 
Epistle  to  the  Romans.*  But  his  zeal  soon  burst 
through  this  restraint.  He  considered  himself  in  the 
light  of  a  soldier  sent  on  the  forlorn  hope,  and  resolv- 
ed to  fall  in  the  breach,  trusting  that  others,  animated 
by  his  example,  would  press  forward  and  secure  the 
victory.  Resuming  his  former  reproofs  of  the  reign- 
ing errors  and  superstition,  he  was  a  second  time  de- 
nounced to  the  Holy  Office,  which  condemned  him 
to  wear  a  sanbenito,  and  to  be  imprisoned  for  life. 
When  conducted,  along  with  other  penitents,  to  the 
church  of  St.  Salvador  in  Seville,  to  attend  public 
service  on  festival  days,  instead  of  exhibiting  the 
marks  of  sorrow  exacted  from  persons  in  his  situa- 
tion, he  scrupled  not  to  address  the  audience  after 
sermon,  and  to  warn  them  against  the  erroneous  doc- 
trine which  they  had  heard  from  the  preacher,  when- 
ever he  thought  it  contrary  to  the  word  of  God.  This 
of  itself  would  have  been  reckoned  sufficient  cause  for 
adjudging  him  to  the  flames;  but  the  reasons  already 
mentioned  had  influence  to  save  him  from  that  fate. 
To  rid  themselves  in  the  most  quiet  way  of  so  trou- 
blesome a  penitent,  the  inquisitors  came  to  the  reso- 
lution of  confining  him  in  a  monastery  belonging  to 
the  town  of  San  Lucar,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Guad- 
alquiver,  where,  secluded  from  all  society,  he  died 
about  the  age  of  fifty.  His  sanbenito,  which  was 
hung  up  in  the  metropolitan  church  of  Seville,  long 
attracted  curiosity  by  its  extraordinary  size,  and  the 
*  Montanus,  p.  268. 


118  HISTORY    OF    THE 

inscription  which  it  bore — "  Rodrigo  Valer,  a  citizen 
of  Lebrixa  and  Seville,  an  apostate,  and  false  apostle 
who  pretended  to  be  sent  of  God.'"^ 

It  was  about  the  year  1541  that  the  final  sentence 
was  pronounced  on  Valer.t  The  most  distinguished 
of  his  converts  was  Juan  Gil,  commonly  called  Doc- 
tor Egidius.  He  was  born  at  Olvera  in  Aragon,  and 
educated  at  the  university  of  Alcala,  where  he  distin- 
guished himself  by  his  skill  in  scholastic  theology,  the 
only  science  then  valued  in  Spain,  except  among  a 
few  individuals  who,  by  addicting  themselves  to  the 
study  of  Scripture  in  the  original  languages,  were  de- 
risively named  Biblists.  After  obtaining  the  highest 
academical  honours,  he  was  appointed  professor  of 
divinity  at  Siguenza.  Such  was  his  celebrity,  that 
when  the  office  of  canon-magistral,  or  preacher  in  the 
cathedral  church  of  Seville  became  vacant,  he  was 
chosen  to  fill  it  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  chapter, 
without  being  required  to  undergo  the  comparative 
trial  prescribed  in  such  cases.  But  how  well  versed 
soever  in  the  writings  of  Lombard,  Aquinas  and  Sco- 
tus,  he  proved  an  unpopular  preacher ;  and  not  being 
indifferent  to  his  reputation  and  usefulness,  he  felt, 
after  continuing  for  some  years,  nearly  as  anxious  to 
relinquish  his  situation  as  the  people  were  to  get  rid 
of  him.  In  this  state  of  mind  he  was  accosted  by 
Valer,  who  had  the  penetration  to  discover  his  feel- 
ings, and  to  perceive  the  good  dispositions,  as  well  as 

*  Cypriano  de  Valera  has  given  an  account  of  Rodrigo  de  Valer  in 
his  Dos  Tratados: — del  Papa,  y  de  la  Missa,  p.  242-246.  The  second 
edition  of  this  work  was  printed,  "  En  casa  de  Ricardo  del  Campo, 
(Richard  Field)  ano  de  1599."  An  English  translation  of  it  appeared 
under  the  title  of  "Two  Treatises:  the  first,  of  the  Lives  of  the 
Popes,  and  their  doctrine;  the  second,  of  the  Masse,  &c.  The  second 
edition  in  Spanish,  augmented  by  the  author  himselfe,  M.  Cyprian 
Valera,  and  translated  into  English  by  John  Golburne."  London, 
1600,  4to.  But  both  Cypriano  de  Valera,  and  Llorcnte  (ii.  147-149.) 
have  borrowed  their  accounts  from  that  of  Rcynaldo  Gonzalez  de 
Montes,  (or  Montanus)  in  his  Inquisitionis  Hispanico)  Artes  Dctcctee, 
p.  259-264.  The  narrative  of  De  Montes  is  original  and  authentic, 
as  lie  received  the  particulai.-  from  the  mouth  of  Valcr's  disciple.  Dr. 
Juan  Gil,  (or  Egidius)  with  whom  he  was  ii»lin):ite  at  Seville. 

t  Montanus,  ut  supra,  p.  259.  Cypriano  dc  Valera  says,  "  cerca 
del  ano  1545."     (Dos  Tratados,  p.  246.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  119 

talents,  with  which  he  was  endowed.  He  pointed  out 
the  defects  of  his  mode  of  preaching,  and  exhorted 
him,  as  the  sure  remedy,  to  give  himself  to  tlie  dili- 
gent and  serious  perusal  of  the  word  of  God.  This 
advice,  frequently,  repeated,  produced  at  last  the  de- 
sired effect.  He  took  the  course  pointed  out  to  him, 
and  his  "  profiting  appeared  to  all."  He  soon  became 
the  most  acceptable  preacher  who  had  appeared  in 
Seville.  Instead  of  the  dry,  abstruse,  and  unprofita- 
ble discussions  which  he  had  formerly  pursued,  he 
brought  forward  the  great  truths  of  the  Bible ;  and 
the  frigid  manner  in  which  he  had  been  accustomed 
to  acquit  himself  in  public  was  succeeded  by  power- 
ful appeals  to  the  consciences,  and  afiectionate  ad- 
dresses to  the  hearts  of  his  auditors.  Their  attention 
was  aroused;  deep  convictions  of  the  necessity  and 
suitableness  of  that  salvation  which  the  gospel  re- 
veals were  made  on  their  minds;  and  they  were  pre- 
pared for  receiving  those  new  views  of  divine  truth 
which  the  preacher  presented  to  them,  as  they  were 
gradually  unfolded  to  himself,  and  with  a  caution 
which  regard  to  the  weakness  of  the  people,  as  well 
as  to  his  own  perilous  situation,  seemed  to  warrant 
and  require.*  In  this  manner,  by  a  zeal  more  tem- 
pered with  prudence  than  that  of  his  revered  instruc- 
tor, he  was  honoured  not  only  to  make  converts  to 
Christ,  but  to  train  up  martyrs  for  the  truth.  "  Among 
the  other  gifts  divinely  bestowed  on  this  holy  man,^' 
says  one  who  owed  his  soul  to  him,  "was  the  singu- 
lar faculty  which  he  had  of  kindling  in  the  breasts  of 
those  who  listened  to  his  instructions  a  sacred  flame 
which  animated  them  in  all  the  exercises  of  piety,  in- 
ternal and  external,  and  made  them  not  only  willing 
to  take  up  the  cross,  but  cheerful  in  the  prospect  of 
the  sufl'erings  of  which  they  stood  in  jeopardy  every 
hour;  a  clear  proof  that  the  Master  whom  he  served 
was  present  with  him,  by  his  Spirit  engraving  the  doc- 
trine which  he  taught  on  the  hearts  of  his  hearers."! 
Egidius  was  not  left  alone  in  the  work  of  enlight- 
ening the  citizens  of  Seville.  In  addition  to  those 
*  Montanus,  p.  256-259,  265.  f  Montanus,  p.  231. 


120  HISTORY    OF    THE 

who,  like  himself,  had  profited  by  the  conversation  of 
Valer,  he  was  joined  by  Doctor  Vargas  and  Constan- 
tino Ponce  de  la  Fuente,  who  had  been  his  fellow- 
students  at  the  university,  and  were  men  of  superior 
talents  and  learning.  He  imparted  to  them  liis  know- 
ledge of  evangelical  truth,  and  they  in  their  turn  con- 
tributed by  their  conversation  to  the  improvement  of 
his  ministerial  gifts.  The  three  friends  concerted  a 
plan,  according  to  Avhicli  they  might  co-operate  in 
advancing  the  common  cause.  Vargas  read  lectures 
to  the  more  learned,  in  which  he  expounded  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Romans,  and  subsequently  the  book  of 
Psalms;  and  Constantine,  of  whom  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  speak  more  particularly  afterwards,  assis- 
ted Egidius  occasionally  in  the  pulpit.  Their  zeal, 
while  it  awakened  the  suspicions,  provoked  the  dili- 
gence of  the  clergy  who  were  devoted  to  the  ancient 
superstition;  and  the  city  was  divided  in  its  attach- 
ments between  the  two  classes  of  preachers.  Those 
of  the  one  class  urged  the  necessity  and  importance  of 
the  repetition  of  prayers  at  certain  stated  hours,  the 
frequent  hearing  of  mass,  the  visiting  of  consecrated 
places,  and  the  regular  observance  of  fasting  and  of 
auricular  confession ;  while  they  exhorted  those  who 
aimed  at  higher  degrees  of  sanctity  to  dedicate  their 
substance  to  pious  uses,  or,  renouncing  the  world,  to 
take  on  them  the  triple  vow.  Those  of  the  other 
class  either  passed  over  these  things  entirely,  or  in- 
culcated their  inefficacy;  exhorted  their  hearers  to  re- 
ly on  the  merits  of  Christ  instead  of  their  OAvn  works, 
and  to  prove  the  genuineness  of  their  faith  by  obedi- 
ence to  the  commands  of  God;  and,  in  place  of  re- 
commending rosaries  and  scales  of  devotion,  spoke  in 
the  warmest  style  of  the  advantages  to  be  derived 
from  a  serious  and  daily  perusal  of  the  sacred  wri- 
tings. The  first  class  carried  along  with  them  the 
great  body  of  the  people,  Avhose  religion  is  the  crea- 
ture of  authority  and  habit.  But  the  eloquence  of 
Egidius  and  his  two  associates,  their  prudence,  unaf- 
fected piety,  and  irreproachable  morals,  and  the  har- 
mony with  which  they  conthuied  to  act,  gradually 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  121 

sabdued  the  prejudices  of  the  multitude,  and  thinned 
the  ranks  even  of  their  clerical  opponents.  Assidu- 
ously employed  in  the  duties  of  their  public  func- 
tions through  the  day,  they  met  in  the  evening  with 
the  friends  of  their  reformed  doctrine,  sometimes  in 
one  private  house  and  sometimes  in  another;  the 
small  society  in  Seville  grew  insensibly,  and  became 
the  parent  stock,  from  which  branches  were  taken 
and  planted  in  the  adjacent  country. 

The  Inquisition  had  for  some  time  fixed  its  jealous 
eyes  on  the  three  preachers;  nor  were  there  wanting 
persons  ready  to  accuse  them,  and  especially  Egidius, 
who  was  most  obnoxious  on  account  of  his  greater 
openness  of  disposition,  and  his  appearmg  more  fre- 
quently in  the  pulpit.  Surmises  unfavourable  to  his 
orthodoxy  were  circulated,  spies  were  set  on  his  con- 
duct, and  consultations  held  in  secret  as  to  the  surest 
method  of  ruining  one  who  had  become  popular 
among  all  ranks.  While  these  things  were  going  on 
he  was  deprived  of  his  two  trusty  associates;  Var- 
gas being  removed  by  death,  and  Constantine  called 
to  the  Low  Countries.  But  even  after  he  was  thus 
left  alone  his  enemies  were  afraid  to  proceed  against 
him.* 

So  great  was  the  reputation  of  Egidius,  that  in 
1550  the  emperor  nominated  him  to  the  vacant  bish- 
opric of  Tortosa,  which  was  one  of  the  richest  bene- 
fices in  Spain,  and  had  been  held  by  cardinal  Adrian, 
the  preceptor  of  Charles  V.,  immediately  before  his 
elevation  to  the  popedom.  This  distinguished  mark  of 
royal  favour  inflamed  the  resentment  of  his  adversa- 
ries, and  determined  them  to  proceed  to  extremities. 
Instead  of  confining  themselves  as  formerly  to  mur- 
murs, they  now  charged  him  openly  with  heresy,  and 
predicted  that  his  elevation  to  the  episcopate  would 
prove  the  most  disastrous  calamity  which  Spain  had 
witnessed.  He  was  formally  denounced  to  the  Holy 
Office,  and  the  preliminary  steps  having  been  taken, 
was  thrown  into  its  secret  prisons.   The  charges  against 

*  Montanus,  p.  266. 
9 


122  HISTORY    OF    THE 

him  related  to  the  doctrhic  of  justification,  assurance  of 
salvation, human  merits,  plurality  of  mediators,  purga- 
tory, auricular  confession,  and  the  worshipping  of  im- 
ages. He  was  also  accused  of  having  favoured  Rodrigo 
de  Valer  on  his  trial,  and  opposed  the  erection  of  a  cru- 
cifix in  the  room  of  one  which  had  been  accidentally 
burnt.  In  his  defence  he  drew  up  an  ample  state- 
ment of  his  sentiments  on  the  head  of  justification, 
with  the  reasons  on  which  they  were  founded;  a  dis- 
play of  frankness  which  proved  hm'tful  to  his  cause, 
as  it  furnished  the  procurator  fiscal  at  once  with  evi- 
dence in  support  of  his  charges  and  materials  for  in- 
creasing their  number.  The  friends  of  Egidius  now 
became  alarmed  for  his  safety.  The  emperor,  hear- 
ing of  the  danger  to  which  he  was  exposed,  wrote  in 
his  favour  to  the  inquisitor  general.  The  chapter  of 
Seville  followed  his  example.  And  what  is  more 
strange,  the  licentiate  Correa,  one  of  the  most  inexora- 
ble judges  of  the  Holy  Office,  became  an  advocate  for 
him,  influenced,  it  it  is  said,  by  indignation  at  the 
conduct  of  Pedro  Diaz,  another  inquisitor,  who  had 
formerly  been  a  disciple  of  Valer  along  with  Egidius, 
whom  he  now  prosecuted  with  base  and  unrelenting 
hostility.  In  consequence  of  this  powerful  interces- 
sion the  inquisitors  found  it  necessary  to  adopt  a 
moderate  course,  and  agreed,  instead  of  remitting  the 
articles  of  charge  to  the  ordinary  qualijicators,  to 
submit  them  to  two  arbiters  chosen  by  the  parties. 

Egidius,  after  nominating  Bartolome  Carranza  and 
several  other  individuals,  who  were  either  absent  from 
the  country  or  objected  to  by  the  inquisitors,  at  last 
fixed,  with  the  approbationof  his  judges,  on  Domingo 
de  Soto,  a  Dominican  and  professor  at  Salamanca,  as 
his  arbiter.  Soto  came  to  Seville,  and  having  obtain- 
ed access  to  Egidius,  with  whom  he  had  been  ac- 
quainted at  the  university,  ])rofcssed,  after  mutual  ex- 
planations, to  coincide  with  him  in  his  views  of  justi- 
fication,* which  was  the  main  article  in  the  indict- 

*  Soto  was  a  disciple  of  St.  Thomas,  and  addicted  to  tlic  senti- 
ments of  Aug^ustinc,  as  appears  from  his  treatise  de  Natura  ct  Gratia, 
addressed  to  the  fathers  of  Trent,  in  opposition   to  Catharinus,  and 


•  REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  123 

ment,  and  to  think  that  there  would  be  no  difficulty 
in  procuring  an  amicable  adjustment  of  the  affair.  It 
was  arranged  between  them,  that  each  should  draw 
up  a  paper  containing  his  sentiments  on  the  disputed 
point  expressed  in  his  own  words,  and  that  these  pa- 
pers should  be  read  in  the  presence  of  the  inquisitors. 
As  the  cause  had  excited  great  interest  from  its  rela- 
tion to  a  bishop  elect  and  a  preacher  so  popular  in 
Seville,  it  was  thought  proper  that  it  should  be  dis- 
cussed at  a  public  meeting  held  in  the  cathedral.  On 
the  day  appointed  for  the  trial,  pulpits  were  allotted 
for  Egidius  and  his  arbiter  Soto ;  but,  either  from  de- 
sign or  accident,  they  were  placed  at  a  great  distance 
from  one  another.  After  sermon  was  ended,  Soto 
read  the  declaration  of  his  sentiments.  Egidius,  owing 
partly  to  the  distance  at  which  he  sat,  and  partly  to 
the  bustle  prevailing  in  a  crowded  and  anxious  as- 
sembly, was  unable  to  follow  the  speaker;  but  taking 
it  for  granted  that  what  was  read  agreed  with  what 
had  passed  between  them  in  conversation,  he  nodded 
assent  to  it,  as  Soto  raised  his  voice  and  looked  to- 
ward him  at  the  end  of  every  proposition.  He  then 
proceeded  to  read  his  own  declaration,  which  in  the 
judgment  of  all  who  were  present,  whether  friends  or 
foes,  contradicted  the  former  on  all  the  leading  points. 
The  inquisitors  availed  themselves  of  this  variance  be- 
tween his  gestures  and  language  to  raise  an  outcry 
against  him.  The  two  declarations  were  instantly 
joined  in  process,  and  sentence  was  given  forth,  de- 
claring him  violently  suspected  of  the  Lutheran  here- 
sy, and  condemning  him  to  abjure  the  propositions 
imputed  to  him,  to  be  imprisoned  for  three  years,  to 
abstain  from  writing  or  teaching  for  ten  years,  and 
not  to  leave  the  kingdom  during  that  period,  under 
the  pain  of  being  punished  as  a  formal  and  relapsed 
heretic,  or,  in  other  words,  of  being  burnt  alive.  Con- 
founded at  the  unexpected  issue  of  the  process,  abash- 
ed by  the  exultation  of  his  enemies,  and  half-convinced 
by  the  mortification  which  he  read  in  the  countenances 

appended  to  his  Commentary  on  the  Romans,  printed  at  Antwerp  in 
1550. 


124  HISTORY    OP    THE 

of  his  friends,  that  he  must  have  said  something  far 
wrong,  Egidius  lost  courage,  and  silently  acquiesced 
in  the  sentence  pronounced  against  him.  It  was  not 
until  some  time  after  he  had  returned  to  his  prison 
that  he  learned  from  one  of  his  companions  the  hase 
treachery  of  the  friend  in  whom  he  had  confided.* 

Such  is  the  account  of  the  process  given  by  de 
Montes.  The  late  historian  of  the  Inquisition  is  dis- 
posed to  call  in  question  the  truth  of  his  statement  so 
far  as  concerns  the  artifice  imputed  to  the  professor  of 
Salamanca ;  upon  this  ground,  that  Carranza,  arch- 
bishop of  Toledo,  during  his  trial,  retaliated  upon  Soto 
by  accusing  him  of  "having  been  too  indulgent  in 
regard  to  Doctor  Egidius  of  Seville. "t  But  this  ob- 
jection is  by  no  means  conclusive.  For,  in  the  first 
place,  Llorente  bears  witness  to  the  general  accuracy 
of  De  Montes,  who  expressly  asserts  that  he  received 
his  information  from  Egidius  in  prison.  In  the  second 
place,  the  charge  of  Carranza  is  not  irreconcilable 
with  the  narrative  which  has  been  given;  for  De 
Montes  states  that  Soto  claimed  the  merit  of  having 
procm-ed  a  lenient  sentence  for  Egidius.  J  In  fine, 
Llorente  has  shown,  in  reference  to  another  case,  that 
Soto  was  perfectly  capable  of  the  disgraceful  conduct 
imputed  to  him  on  this  occasion. § 

No  sooner  was  it  known  that  Egidius  was  con- 
demned, than  a  flight  of  hungry  applicants  gathered 

*  Montanus,  p.  266-272. 

t  Llorente,  ii.  144-147. 

t  Montanus,  p.  271. 

§  Speaking  of  his  letters  produced  on  the  trial  of  Carranza,  Llor- 
cnte  says:  "All  these  documents  prove  that  F.  Domingo  Soto  was 
guilty  of  collusion  in  regard  to  two  parties,  which  he  cheated,  first 
the  one  after  the  other,  and  afterwards  both  of  them  at  the  same 
time."     (ii.  146.) 

The  ex-secretary  of  the  Inquisition  might  have  spared  the  stric- 
tures which  he  subjoins  on  the  protestaiit  prejudices  of  his  country- 
man De  Montes,  and  on  liis  fanaticism  in  regarding  it  as  a  mark  of 
divine  justice  tliat  three  of  the  capital  persecutors  of  Egidius  died 
during  his  imprisonment.  The  ^eal  of  the  friend  of  Egidius  may 
have  carried  him  too  far  in  interpreting  the  ways  of  Providence ;  but 
what  means  tlie  following  senteifce?  "One  caimnt  help  rejoicing  at 
the  disgrace  wliich  Providence  had  reserved  for  F.  Domingo  Soto,  to 
serve  as  a  lesson  to  men  of  his  character."     (Llorente,  ut  supra.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  125 

round  the  fat  benifice  of  Tortosa  like  crows  round 
carrion.  The  holy  fathers  assembled  at  Trent  were 
not  so  intently  occupied  in  watching  over  the  interests 
of  the  catholic  church  as  not  to  have  one  eye  turned 
to  Spain,  and  ready  to  discern  what  might  happen 
there  to  their  advantage.  While  the  trial  of  the 
bishop  elect  was  in  dependence,  cardinal  Granville, 
then  bishop  of  Arras  and  prime  minister  of  Spain, 
had  his  table  covered  with  applications,  in  which  the 
incense  of  adulation  was  thickly  sprinkled  on  rancid 
avarice.  In  a  letter,  dated  from  Trent  on  the  19th  of 
November  1551,  the  titular  bishop  Jubin,  in  partibiis 
Li/ide Hum,  writes:  "We  have  received  intelligence 
here,  that  the  bishop  elect  of  Tortosa  has  been  con- 
demned to  perpetual  imprisonment.  I  shall  be  in- 
finitely obliged  to  you  to  think  of  me — the  least  of 
your  servants — provided  his  lordship  of  Elna  shall  be 
translated  to  the  bishopric  of  Tortosa,  now  vacant  by 
this  means."*  On  the  preceding  day,  the  bishop  of 
Elna  had  addressed  a  letter  to  the  same  quarter,  in 
which,  without  giving  the  least  hint  of  the  object  he 
had  in  view,  he  begs  the  premier  to  command  him 
"as  the  meanest  domestic  of  his  household,"  calls 
himself  "his  slave,"t  and  assures  him  that  the  rare 
qualities  of  his  eminence,  his  native  goodness,  and 
the  favours  he  had  conferred,  were  so  deeply  seated 
in  the  heart  of  his  servant,  that  he  remembered  him 
without  ceasing,  especially  "in  his  poor  sacrifices,! 
the  fittest  time  to  make  mention  of  one's  masters." 
Two  days  after,  the  modest  bishop  has  acquired  as 
much  courage  as  to  name  his  request :  he  acknow- 
ledges that  the  bishopric  of  Tortosa  was  "  too  weighty 
a  burden  for  his  weak  shoulders,"  but  urges  that  he 
could  discharge  his  episcopal  functions  better  in  such 
a  tranquil  spot  than  in  the  frontier  province  of  Rous- 
sillon,  where  his  pious  exercises  were  interrupted  by 
the  noise  of  warlike  instruments,  and  that  he  "  felt  a 

*  Lettres  et  Me'moires  de  Francois  de  Vargas,  traduits  par  Mich, 
le  Vassor,  p.  194,  195, 

t  "f^sclavo."  t  "  Mis  pobres  sacrificios." 


126  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Strong  desire  to  end  his  days  in  tending  his  infirm 
sheep  in  the  peace  of  God.''*  The  bishop  of  Algeri 
was  equally  disinterested  as  his  brethren  in  seeking 
promotion.  "  It  was  not  avarice  that  induced  him  to 
ask  the  favour"  to  be  translated  from  the  island  of 
Sardinia ;  he  only  wished  to  ''  have  his  residence  on 
terra  fir  ma  ^"^  that  his  spirit  being  relieved  from  the 
continual  agitation  in  which  it  was  kept  by  the  rest- 
less waves  which  surrounded  him,  he  might  be  "at 
more  liberty  to  serve  God,  and  pray  for  the  life  of  the 
king  and  his  minister."!  The  bishop  of  Elna  having 
been  unsuccessful  in  his  application,  renewed  it  in  the 
course  of  the  following  year,  when  he  had  recourse 
to  a  new  line  of  argument  in  its  support.  After  tell- 
ing the  premier  "  that  his  hands  had  made  him,"  he 
requests  him  to  remember,  "  if  he  pleased,"  that  his 
majesty  had  certain  rights  in  Valencia  called  les  hayles 
de  Morella,  of  which  large  sums  were  due  to  the 
treasury,  as  would  appear  from  the  lists  which  he 
had  procured  and  took  the  liberty  to  transmit  to  his 
eminence;  that  most  luckily  the  diocese  of  Tortosa 
included  that  district,  though  the  episcopal  seat  was 
in  his  native  country  of  Catalonia;  and  that,  if  it 
should  please  his  majesty  to  gratify  him  with  that 
bishopric,  he  could  see  to  the  payment  of  these  dues 
without  leaving  his  diocese,  and  "  thus  would  have 
it  in  his  power  to  serve  God  and  the  king  at  the  same 
time."! 

0  the  duplicity,  the  selfishness,  the  servility  of  the 
clergy!  What  good  cause  but  one  would  they  not 
have  ruined  ?  And  how  deeply  has  that  been  marred 
by  them !  Boccaccio  relates,  (it  is  a  tale,  but  deserves 
to  be  repeated  for  the  sake  of  the  moral  it  teaches,) 
that  two  persons,  a  Christian  layman  and  a  Jew,  lived 
together  in  a  retired  spot  on  the  northern  boundary  of 
Italy.  The  Christian  had  long  piously  laboured  to 
convert  his  neighbour,  and  had  succeeded  so  far  as  to 
be  in  daily  expectation  of  his  submitting  to  baptism, 

»  Lettrcs  ct  M^moires  de  Vargas,  p.  193,  195,  196. 
t  Ibid.  p.  303.  t  Ibid.  p.  514,  515,  522. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  127 

when  all  at  once  the  idea  struck  the  latter  that  he 
would  previously  visit  the  capital  of  Christendom. 
Dreading  the  effects  of  his  journey,  the  Christian  en- 
deavoured to  divert  him  from  it;  but  in  vain.  After 
an  absence  of  some  weeks  the  Jew  returned,  and  re- 
pairing to  the  house  of  the  Christian,  who  had  given 
up  his  convert  for  lost,  surprised  him  with  the  inti- 
mation that  he  Avas  now  ready  to  be  baptized ;  "  for 
(added  he)  I  have  been  at  Rome,  and  have  seen  the 
pope  and  his  clergy,  and  I  am  convinced  that  if 
Christianity  had  not  been  divine,  it  would  have  been 
ruined  long  ago  under  the  care  of  such  guardians." 

All  the  applicants  for  the  bishopric  of  Tortosa  took 
care  to  urge  the  services  which  they  had  done  to  the 
emperor  at  the  council  of  Trent.  Several  authors 
have  spoken  in  high  terms  of  the  liberal  views  and 
independent  spirit  displayed  by  the  Spanish  divines 
who  sat  in  that  council ;  and  Father  Simon,  in  parti- 
cular, asserts  that  they  were  ready,  upon  the  refusal 
of  the  ecclesiastical  reform  which  they  sought,  to  join 
with  the  French  church  in  throwing  off  the  authori- 
ty of  the  court  of  Rome,  if  Charles  V.  had  not,  from 
political  motives,  discouraged  them  by  Avithdrawing 
his  support.*  A  perusal  of  the  correspondence  and 
that  of  the  imperial  embassy  serves  to  abate,  in  no 
small  degree,  the  high  opinion  which  these  commen- 
dations are  calculated  to  produce.  If  the  Italian  bish- 
ops were  passive  tools  in  the  hands  of  the  papal  le- 
gates, their  brethren  of  Spain  were  not  less  under 
the  influence  of  the  imperial  ambassadors;  and  it  is 
quite  as  clear  that  their  zeal  for  the  reformation  of 
abuses  was  at  first  excited,  as  that  it  was  afterwards 
restrained,  by  the  policy  of  the  emperor.  Several  of  the 
reforms  which  they  demanded  were  in  favour  of  their 
own  order,  and  would  have  added  to  their  own  wealth 
in  proportion  as  they  diminished  those  of  the  papal 
see ;  a  circumstance  which  did  not  escape  the  obser- 
vation of  the  court  of  Spain.t     At  the  same  time  they 

*  Simon,  Lettres  Choisies,  torn.  i.  p.  252-254. 
+  See  their  Postulata  to  the  Council  in  Sehelhom,  Amoenit.  Eccles. 
torn,  ii,  p.  584-590.     Conf.  Vargas,  Lettres  et  Memoires,  p.  210.    The 


128  HISTORY    OF    THE 

satisfied  themselves  with  murmuring  in  private  at  the 
shameful  arts  hy  which  the  council  was  managed, 
and  had  not  the  courage  to  resent  the  attacks  made  on 
its  freedom,  or  the  insults  openly  otfered  to  their  col- 
leagues. The  hishop  of  Verdun  happening  to  apply 
the  term  pretended  reforniation  to  some  of  the  plans 
proposed  in  the  council,  the  papal  legate,  cardinal  Cres- 
centio,  assailed  him  publicly  with  invective,  calling  him 
a  thoughtless  young  man  and  a  fool,  and  ordering  him 
to  be  silent.  "  Is  this  a  free  council?"  said  the  elec- 
tor of  Cologne  to  the  Spanish  bishop  of  Orense,  who 
sat  next  him.  "  It  ought  to  be  free,"  replied  the  bishop, 
with  a  caution  which  would  not  have  disgraced  an 
Italian.  "  But  tell  me  your  opinion  candidly.  Is  the 
synod  free  ?  "  Do  not  press  me  at  present,  my  lord,"  re- 
joined the  prudent  bishop;  "  that's  a  difficult  question; 
I  will  answer  it  at  home."*  It  has  been  alleged  that 
the  papal  influence  over  the  council  was  confined  to 
matters  of  discipline  and  ecclesiastical  polity,  and  did 
not  extend  to  points  of  faith,  in  the  decision  of  which 
all  the  members  were  of  one  accord. t  But  this  is  con- 
tradicted by  unquestionable  documents.  Some  of  the 
most  learned  divines  who  were  at  Trent  were  dissatis- 
fied with  certain  parts  of  the  doctrine  of  the  council, 
and  with  the  confused  and  hurried  manner  in  which 
this  important  part  of  the  business  was  transacted.  J 
After  the  article  concerning  the  sacraments  of  penance 
and  extreme  miction  had  received  the  formal  sanction 

Royal  Council  of  Castile  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  Council  of 
Trent,  urg^ing  a  variety  of  ecclesiastical  reforms.  But  desirable  as 
many  of  these  certainly  were,  we  cannot  help  feeling  pleased  at  the 
rejection  of  the  whole,  when  we  find  the  following  article  among 
them:  "That  the  pope  shall  support  the  Inquisition,  and  attempt  no- 
thing to  the  prejudice  of  an  institution  so  necessary  to  the  welfare  of 
these  kingdoms — porque  el  ofiicio  de  la  santa  Inquisicion  es  muy  ne- 
cessario  en  estos  rcynos,  conviene  ser  muy  favorecido."  (Vargas,  ut 
supra,  p.  162,  1G7.) 

*  Vargas,  p.  235,  254.  The  name  of  this  bishop  was  Francisco 
Blanco.  In  1558  he  gave  a  recommendation  to  the  catechism  of 
Carranza,but  retracted  it  during  the  prosecution  of  the  author  for  he- 
resy, and  was  rewarded  with  the  archbishopric  of  Santiago.  (Llo- 
rente,  iii.  301,  302.) 

t  Simon,  Lettrcs  Choisios,  torn.  i.  p.  254. 

\  Vargas,  p.  43,  57,  224,  233. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  129 

of  the  holy  and  universal  council,  the  divines  of  Lou- 
vain  succeeded  in  convincing  the  leaders  that  it  was 
erroneous.  What  was  to  be  done !  They  agreed  in 
a  private  conclave  to  alter  it,  after  taking  precautio  ns 
to  have  the  whole  afllair  buried  in  silence,  lest  they 
should  incur  the  ridicule  of  the  Lutherans.  "A  great 
misfortune!"  says  the  archbishop  of  Cologne;  "but 
the  least  of  two  evils."  The  reflections  of  the  coun- 
sellor of  the  imperial  embassy  are  more  unceremo- 
nious. "  I  believe  (says  he)  that  God  has  permitted 
this  occurrence  to  cover  them  with  shame  and  confu- 
sion. Surely,  after  this,  they  Avill  open  their  eyes, 
according  to  the  saying  of  the  psalmist.  Fill  their 
faces  with  shame,  that  they  may  seek  thy  name. 
God  grant  that  they  may  comprehend  this ;  but  I  dare 
not  hope  for  so  much,  and  have  always  said  that  no- 
thing short  of  a  miracle  will  work  a  change."*  It 
is  imposible  to  conceive  any  thing  more  deplorable 
than  the  picture  of  the  council  drawn  in  the  confiden- 
tial correspondence  of  Vargas,  who  was  attached  as 
legal  adviser,  to  the  embassy  sent  by  Charles  V.  to 
Trent.  "  The  legate  is  always  the  same,"  says  he 
in  a  letter  to  the  cardinal-bishop  of  Arras ;  "  he  is  a 
man  lost  to  all  shame.  Believe  me.  Sir,  I  have  not 
words  to  express  the  pride  and  effrontery  which  he 
displays  in  the  affairs  of  the  council.  Perceiving  that 
we  are  timid,  and  that  his  majesty  is  unwilling  to 
hurt  or  offend  the  pope,  he  endeavours  to  terrify  us 
by  assuming  stately  airs  and  a  haughty  tone.  He 
treats  the  bishops  as  slaves;  threatens  and  swears 
that  he  will  depart.  It  is  useless  for  his  majesty  to 
continue  longer  to  urge  the  pope  and  his  minis- 
ters. It  is  speaking  to  the  deaf,  and  trying  to  soften 
the  stones.  It  serves  only  to  make  us  a  laughing- 
stock to  the  world  and  to  furnish  the  heretics  with  sub- 
jects for  pasquinades.  We  must  delay  till  the  time 
when  God  will  purify  the  sons  of  Levi.  That  time 
must  soon  come ;  and,  in  my  opinion,  this  purification 
will  not  be  accomplished  without  some  extraordinary 
chastisement.     Things  cannot  remain  long  in  their  pre- 

*  Vargas,  p.  66,  246-248. 


130  HISTORY    OF    THE 

sent  state :  the  evils  are  too  great.  All  the  nerves  of 
ecclesiastical  discipline  are  broken.  The  traffic  in 
things  sacred  is  shameful . . .  The  prediction  of  St.  Paul 
is  about  to  be  accomplished  in  the  church  of  Rome, 
That  day  cannot  come  unless  there  come  a  falling 
away  first.  As  to  the  manner  of  treating  doctrines, 
I  have  already  written  you,  that  they  precipitate 
ever^r  thing,  examine  few  questions,  and  do  not  sub- 
mit them  to  the  judgment  of  the  learned  divines  who 
are  here  in  attendance.  Many  of  the  bishops  give 
their  vote,  and  say  placet,  on  points  which  they  do 
not  understand  and  are  incapable  of  understanding. 
There  is  no  one  here  who  appears  on  the  side  of  God, 
or  dares  to  speak.  We  are  all  dumb  dogs  that  cannot 
bark."  Notwithstanding  all  this  and  much  more  to 
the  same  purpose,  Vargas  adds,  like  a  true  son  of  the 
church :  "  As  for  myself  I  obey  implicitly,  and  will 
submit  without  resistance  to  whatever  shall  be  de- 
termined in  matters  of  faith.  God  grant  that  all  may 
do  this."* 

These  facts  are  not  irrelative  to  the  subject.  The 
secrets  of  the  council  of  Trent  soon  transpired;  and 
several  individuals,  who  were  afterwards  brought  to 
the  stake  in  Spain,  acknowledged  that  their  eyes  were 
first  opened  to  the  radical  corruptions  of  the  church 
of  Rome  by  the  accounts  they  received  from  some  of 
the  members  of  that  synod  as  to  the  scandalous  man- 
ner in  which  its  decisions  were  influenced. t 

Egidius  appeared  among  the  criminals  condemned 
to  penance,  in  an  auto-de-fe  celebrated  at  Seville  in 
1552.  J  The  term  of  his  imprisonment  having  expired 
in  1555,  he,  in  the  course  of  the  following  year,  paid 
a  visit  to  Valladolid,  where  he  found  a  number  of 
converts  to  the  reformed  doctrine.  His  wounded  spi- 
rit was  refreshed  by  what  he  saw  of  the  grace  of  God 
in  that  city,  and  after  spending  a  short  time  in  the 
company  of  his  brethren,  and  exhorting  them  to  con- 
stancy in  the  faith,  he  returned  to  Seville.    But  the 

•  Vargas,  p.  207-8,  211,  225-6,  233. 
t  Llorcnlc,  ii.  223;   iii.  230,  231. 
X  Ibid.  ii.  138. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  131 

fatigue  of  travelling,  to  which  he  had  been  unaccus- 
tomed for  some  years,  brought  on  a  fever,  which  cut 
him  off  in  a  few  days.  He  left  behind  him  a  number 
of  writings  in  his  native  tongue,  none  of  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  printed.*  His  bones  were  after- 
wards taken  from  their  grave,  and  committed  to  the 
flames,  his  property  confiscated,  and  his  memory  de- 
clared infamous,  by  a  sentence  of  the  inquisitors,  find- 
ing that  he  had  died  in  the  Lutheran  faith.t 

The  first  introduction  of  the  reformed  doctrine  into 
Valladolid  was  attended  with  circumstances  nearly 
as  extraordinary  as  those  which  had  led  to  its  recep- 
tion in  Seville.  Francisco  San-Roman,  a  native  of 
Burgos,  and  son  of  the  alcayde  mayor  of  Bribiesca, 
having  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  went  to  the 
Low  Countries.  In  the  year  1540  his  employers  sent 
him  from  Antwerp  to  Bremen,  to  settle  some  accounts 
due  to  them  in  that  city.  The  reformed  religion  had 
been  introduced  into  Bremen;  and  the  young  Spa- 
niard, curious  to  become  acquainted  with  that  doctrine 
which  was  so  much  condemned  in  his  native  country, 
went  to  one  of  the  churches,  where  he  heard  James 
Spreng,  formerly  prior  of  the  Augustinian  monastery 
at  Antwerp,  and  one  of  the  first  persons  of  note  who 
embraced  the  opinions  of  Luther  in  the  Netherlands.  J 
The  sermon  made  so  deep  an  impression  on  the  mind 
of  San-Roman,  that  he  could  not  refrain  from  calling 
on  the  preacher,  who,  pleased  with  his  candour  and 
thirst  for  knowledge,  introduced  him  to  the  acquaint- 
ance of  some  of  his  pious  and  learned  friends.  Among 
them  was  our  countryman  Doctor  Maccabeus,§  then 
at  Bremen,  by  whose  conversation  he  profited  greatly. 
Like  some  young  converts  he  flattered  himself  that  he 

*  Montanus,  p.  273.  Histoire  des  Martyrs,  p.  500,  501.  De  Montes 
praises  his  commentaries  on  Genesis,  on  some  of  the  Psalms,  the  Song' 
of  Solomon,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  ;  but  especially  a  trea- 
tise on  bearing  the  cross,  which  he  composed  in  prison. 

t  Montanus,  p.  274.     Llorente,  ii.  139,  144,  273. 

t  Erasmi  Epistolae,  ep.  427.  Luther's  Samtliche  Schriflen,  torn.  xv. 
Anhang,  p.  192;  torn.  xxi.  p.  790,  806.  Gerdesii  Hist.  Reform,  torn, 
ii.  p.  131;  torn.  iii.  p.  25. 

§  Life  of  John  Knox,  vol.  i.  note  I. 


132  HISTORY    OF    THE 

could  easily  persuade  others  to  embrace  those  truths 
which  appeared  to  his  own  mind  as  clear  as  the  light 
of  day;  and  he  burned  with  the  desire  of  returning 
home  and  imparting  the  knowledge  which  he  had  re- 
ceived to  his  relations  and  countrymen.  In  vain  did 
Spreng  endeavour  to  restrain  an  enthusiasm  from 
which  he  had  himself  suffered  at  an  earlier  period  of 
his  life.  In  the  letters  which  he  wrote  to  his  employ- 
ers at  Antwerp,  San-Roman  could  not  help  alluding 
to  the  change  which  his  religious  sentiments  had  un- 
dergone, and  lamenting  the  blindness  of  his  country- 
men. The  consequence  was,  that  on  his  return  to  that 
city  he  was  immediately  seized  by  certain  friars,  to 
whom  the  contents  of  his  letters  had  been  communi- 
cated; and  a  number  of  Lutheran  books  and  satirical 
prints  against  the  church  of  Rome  being  found  in  his 
possession,  he  was  thrown  into  prison.  After  a  rigor- 
ous confinement  of  eight  months,  he  was  released  at 
the  solicitation  of  his  friends,  who  represented  that 
his  zeal  was  now  cooled,  and  that  he  would  be  duly 
watched  in  his  native  country.  Going  to  Louvain,he 
met  with  Francisco  Enzinas,  one  of  his  fellow-citi- 
zens, of  whom  we  shall  afterwards  speak,  who  urged 
him  not  to  rush  upon  certain  danger  by  an  indiscreet 
or  unnecessary  avowal  of  his  sentiments,  and  to  con- 
fine himself  to  the  sphere  of  his  proper  calling,  within 
which  he  might  do  much  good,  instead  of  assuming 
the  office  of  a  public  teacher,  or  talking  on  rehgious 
subjects  with  every  person  who  fell  in  his  way.  San- 
Roman  promised  to  regulate  his  conduct  by  this  pru- 
dential advice ;  but  having  gone  to  Ratisbon,  where 
a  diet  of  the  empire  was  then  sitting,  and  being  elated 
at  hearing  of  the  favour  which  the  emperor  showed 
to  the  Protestants,*  with  the  view  of  securing  their 
assistance  against  the  Turks,  he  forgot  his  prudent 
resolutions.  Obtaining  an  introduction  to  Charles,  he 
deplored  the  state  of  religion  in  his  native  country, 
and  begged  him  to  use  his  royal  power  in  restrain- 
ing the  inquisitors  and  priests,  who  sought,  by  every 
species  of  violence   and  cruelty,  to  prevent  the  en- 

*  Slcidani  Comment,  torn.  ii.  p.  222-236.  edit.  Am.  Ende. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  133 

trance  of  the  only  true  and  saving  doctrine  of  Jesus 
Christ  into  Spain.     By  the  mild  answer  which  he  re- 
ceived from  the  emperor,  he  was  emboldened  to  re- 
new his  application,  at  which  some  of  the  Spanish 
attendants  were  so  incensed  that  they  would  have 
throv/n  him  instantly  into  the  Danube,  had  not  their 
master  interposed,  by  ordering  him  to  be  reserved  for 
trial  before  the  proper  judges.     He  was  accordingly 
cast  into  chains,  and  conveyed,  in  the  retinue  of  the 
emperor,  from  Germany  to  Italy,  and  from  Italy  to 
Africa.     After  the  failure  of  the  expedition  against 
Algiers,  he  was  landed  in  Spain,  and  delivered  to  the 
Inquisition   at   Valladolid.     His   process  was   short. 
When  brought  before  the  inquisitors  he  frankly  pro- 
fessed his  belief  in  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  Refor- 
mation, that  salvation  comes  to  no  man  by  his  own 
works,  merit,  or  strength,  but  solely  from  the  mercy 
of  God  through  the  sacrifice  of  the  one  Mediator; 
and  he  pronounced  the  mass,  auricular  confession, 
purgatory,  the  invocation  of  saints,  and  the  worship- 
ping of  images,  to  be  blasphemy  against  the  living 
God.    If  his  zeal  was  impetuous,  it  supported  him  to 
the  last.     He  endured  the  horrors  of  a  protracted  im- 
prisonment with  the  utmost  fortitude  and  patience. 
He  resisted  all  the  importunities  used  by  the  friars  to 
induce  him  to  recant.    He  refused,  at  the  place  of  ex- 
ecution, to  purchase  a  mitigation  of  punishment  by 
making  confession  to  a  priest,  or  bowing  to  a  crucifix 
which  was  placed  before  him.    When  the  flames  first 
reached  him  on  his  being  fastened  to  the  stake,  he 
made  an  involuntary  motion  with   his   head,  upon 
which  the  friars  in  attendance  exclaimed  that  he  was 
become  penitent,  and  ordered  him  to  be  brought  from 
the  fire.     On  recovering  his  breath,  he  looked  them 
calmly  in  the  face,  and  said,  "  Did  you  envy  my  hap- 
piness?" at  which  words  he  was  thrust  back  into  the 
flames,  and  almost  instantly  sufl'ocated.  Among  a  great 
number  of  prisoners  brought  out  in  this  public  specta- 
cle, he  was  the  only  individual  who  sufl'ered  death. 
The  novelty  of  the  crimes  with  which  he  was  charged, 
joined  to  the  resolution  which  he  displayed  on  the 


134  HISTORY    OF    THE 

scaffold  and  at  the  stake,  produced  a  sensible  impres- 
sion on  the  spectators.  A  proclamation  Avas  issued  by 
the  inquisitors,  forbidding  any  to  pray  for  his  soul,  or 
to  express  a  favourable  opinion  of  such  an  obstinate 
heretic.  Notwithstanding  this,  some  of  the  emperor's 
body-guards  collected  his  ashes  as  those  of  a  martyr; 
and  the  English  ambassador,  who  happened  to  be  at 
Valladolid  at  that  time,  used  means  to  procure  a  part 
of  his  bones  as  a  relic.  The  guards  were  thrown  into 
prison,  and  the  ambassador  was  prohibited  from  ap- 
pearing at  court  for  some  time.  It  is  not  unworthy  of 
observation,  that  the  sermon  at  this  aiito-de-fe  was 
preached  by  the  well-known  Carranza,  who  was  after- 
wards tried  by  the  Inquisition,  and  died  in  prison  after 
a  confinement  of  seventeen  years.* 

This  event  took  place  in  the  year  1544.t  The  re- 
formed doctrine  had  previously  been  introduced  into 
Valladolid,  but  its  disciples  contented  themselves  with 
retaining  it  in  their  own  breasts,  or  talking  of  it  in  the 
most  cautious  way  to  their  confidential  friends.  The 
speculation  excited  by  the  martyrdom  of  San-Roman 
took  off  this  restraint.  Expressions  of  sympathy  for 
his  fate,  or  of  astonishment  at  his  opinions,  led  to  con- 
versations, in  the  course  of  which  the  favourers  of  the 
new  faith,  as  it  was  called,  were  easily  able  to  recog- 
nise one  another.  The  zeal,  and  even  magnanimity, 
which  he  evinced  in  encountering  public  odium,  and 
braving  so  horrible  a  death,  for  the  sake  of  the  truth, 
provoked  to  emulation  the  most  timid  among  them; 
and  within  a  few  years  after  his  martyrdom,  they 
formed  themselves  into  a  church,  which  met  regular- 

*  Pellicer,  Ensayo  de  una  Biblioteca  de  Traductores  Espanoles, 
p.  78.  Act.  et  Monim.  Martyrum,  f.  122-125, 4to.  Histoire  des  Mar- 
tyrs, f.  146-148,  folio. 

t  Pellicer,  following  the  Latin  Martyrology,  represents  San-Ro- 
man's  conversion  to  the  protestant  faith  as  liaving  taken  place  in 
1545;  but  the  large  French  history  of  Martyrs  places  it  in  1540, 
which  is  ascertained  to  be  the  true  date  from  collateral  facts  men- 
tioned in  the  text.  Llorente  gives  no  account  of  San-Roman's  mar- 
tyrdom, but,  in  a  transient  allusion  to  it,  (torn.  iii.  p.  188,)  seems  to 
say  that  it  happened  in  1540.  The  Histoire  des  IVIartyrs,  whose 
authority  I  am  inclined  to  prefer,  fixes  on  1514  as  the  year  of  his 
death. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  135 

ly  in  private  for  tlie  purposes  of  religious  instruction 
and  worship.* 


CHAPTER  V. 


CAUSES    OF    THE    PROGRESS    OF    THE    REFORMED    DOCTRINE    IN    SPAIN. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  the  narrative  of  the 
rehgious  movement  in  Spain,  it  may  be  proper  to  give 
an  account  of  some  facts  which  happened  without  the 
kingdom.  This  will  furnish  the  reader  with  interest- 
ing information  respecting  Spaniards  who  embraced 
the  Reformation  abroad,  and  whose  pious  and  en- 
lightened exertions,  in  publishing  the  Scriptures  and 
other  books  in  their  native  tongue,  had  great  influ- 
ence in  disseminating  the  knowledge  of  the  truth 
among  their  countrymen  at  home. 

About  the  year  1540,  three  brothers,  Jayme,  Fran- 
cisco, and  Juan,  sons  of  a  respectable  citizen  of  Bur- 
gos in  Old  Castile,  were  sent  to  study  at  Louvain,  a 
celebrated  seat  of  education,  to  which  the  Spanish 
youth  had  long  been  accustomed  to  resort.  The  fam- 
ily name  of  the  young  men  was  Enzinas,  though  they 
were  better  known  among  the  learned  in  Germany 
by  their  assumed  name  of  Dryander.t  Polite  letters 
had  been  for  some  time  cultivated  in  the  university 
of  Louvain,  and  the  students  indulged  in  a  freedom 
of  opinion,  which  was  not  tolerated  at  Paris  and  other 
places  where  the  old  scholastic  ideas  and  modes  of 
teaching  were  rigidly  preserved.  Along  with  a  taste 
for  elegant  literature,  the  young  Spaniards  acquired 

*  Montanus,  p.  273.     Llorente,  ii.  144. 

t  Encina  in  Spanish,  like  Spus-  in  Greek,  signifies  an  oak.  Pellicer 
thinks  that  Francisco  Enzinas  adopted  the  name  of  Dryander  for  the 
purpose  of  concealment,  after  his  escape  from  prison  at  Brussels  in- 
1545.  (Ensayo,  p.  80.)  But  we  find  him  subscribing  Franciscus 
Dryander  to  a  letter  written  in  1541.  (Gerdesii  Hist.  Reform,  torn, 
iii.  append,  p.  86.)  It  was  customary  at  that  period  for  learned  men 
to  change  their  names  into  Greek  ones  of  the  same  signification;  as 
Reuchlin  (smoke)  into  Capnio,  Gerard  (amiable)  into  Erasmus,  and 
Schwartzerd  (black  earth)  into  Melancthon. 


136  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  knowledge  of  the  reformed  doctrhics.  They  Hved 
in  terms  of  great  intimacy  with  the  celebrated  George 
Cassander,*  who  corresponded  with  the  leading  pro- 
testant  divines,  and  afterwards  distinguished  himself 
by  a  fruitless  attempt  to  reconcile  the  popish  and  re- 
formed churches.  Dissatisfied  with  the  temporizing 
principles  of  this  learned  man,  and  the  partial  reforms 
in  which  he  was  disposed  to  rest,  the  three  brothers 
entered  with  the  most  cordial  zeal  into  the  views  of 
those  who  had  formally  separated  from  the  church  of 
Rome. 

Juan  Enzinas,  or  Dryander,  the  younger  brother, 
chose  the  medical  profession,  and  having  settled  in 
Germany,  became  a  professor  in  the  university  of 
Marburg.  He  was  the  author  of  several  works  on 
medicine  and  astronomy,  and  acquired  reputation  by 
the  ingenuity  which  he  displayed  in  the  invention 
and  improvement  of  instruments  for  advancing  these 
sciences.! 

Jayme  Enzinas,  the  elder  brother,  removed  in  1541, 
by  the  direction  of  his  father,  to  Paris.  During  his 
residence  in  that  city  he  became  confirmed  in  his  at- 
tachment to  the  Reformation,  and  was  successful  in 
communicating  his  impressions  to  some  of  his  coun- 
trymen who  were  prosecuting  their  studies  along  with 
him.  The  expectations  which  he  had  formed  from 
the  far-famed  university  of  the  French  metropolis 
were  miserably  disappointed.  He  found  the  profes- 
sors to  be  generally  pedants  and  bigots,  and  the  stu- 
dents equally  destitute  of  good  manners  and  a  love 
for  liberal  pursuits.  It  was  with  the  deepest  emotion 
that  he  beheld  the  Christian  heroism  shown  by  the 
protestant  martyrs  under  the  cruel  treatment  to  which 
they  Avere  exposed.     There  was  something  solemn, 

*  Illustrium  et  clarorum  Virorutn  Epistoloe  Selectiores,  scriptne  a 
Bclgis  vcl  ad  Bclgas,  p.  55,  58.  Lugd.  Bat.  1G17.  The  letter  from 
Jacobus  Dryander,  inserted  in  that  work,  throws  mueh  liglit  on  liis 
character  and  family. 

t  Teissier,  Elogcs,  tom.  i,  p.  199.  Mclanchthonis  Epistolte,  col. 
817.  In  anotlier  letter,  written  in  the  course  of  the  same  year,  1543, 
Mclancthon  bestows  great  praise  on  an  orrery  which  Juan  Dryander 
had  constructed.     (Ibid.  col.  818.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  137 

though  appalling,  in  the  composure  with  which  a 
Spanish  assembly  witnessed  the  barbarous  spectacle 
of  an  auto-cle-fe;  but  the  wanton  ferocity  with  which 
a  Parisian  mob  shouted,  when  the  executioner,  with 
his  pincers,  tore  the  tongue  from  the  mouth  of  his 
victim,  and  struck  him  with  it  repeatedly  in  the  face, 
before  binding  his  body  to  the  stake,  was  disgustingly 
horrible  and  fiendish.*  Unable  to  remain  in  a  place 
where  he  could  find  neither  learning  nor  humanity, 
Jayme  Enzinas  left  Paris  and  returned  to  Louvain. 
Thence  he  went  to  Antwerp  to  superintend  the  print- 
ing of  a  catechism  which  he  had  drawn  up  in  his 
native  language  for  the  benefit  of  his  countrymen.t 
Soon  after  this  he  received  orders  from  his  father, 
who  entertained  sanguine  hopes  of  his  advancement 
in  the  church,  to  visit  Italy  and  spend  some  time  in 
the  capital  of  Christendom.  Nothing  could  be  more 
contrary  to  his  inclinations;  but  yielding  to  the  dic- 
tates of  filial  duty  he  set  out,  leaving  his  heart  with 
his  brothers  and  other  friends  in  the  Netherlands. 
To  a  delicate  taste  and  generous  independence  of 
spirit,  Jayme  Enzinas  added  a  tenderness  of  con- 
science and  candour  of  disposition  which  exposed 
him  to  peculiar  danger  in  Italy,  at  a  time  when  the 
jealousy  of  the  priests  was  roused  by  the  recent  dis- 
covery that  the  reformed  tenets  had  spread  exten- 
sively in  that  country.  After  spending  several  years 
in  great  uneasiness  of  mind,  without  being  able  to 
procure  liberty  from  his  father  to  return,  he  resolved 
at  last,  in  compliance  with  the  urgent  request  of  his 
brothers,  to  repair  to  Germany,  and  was  preparing 
to  quit  Rome,  when  he  was  betrayed  by  one  of  his 
countrymen,  who  denounced  him  as  a  heretic  to  the 

*  Jacobus  Dryander  Georgio  Cassandro:  EpistoloB  Selectiores,  ut 
supra,  p.  55-65.  Eustathius  a  Knobelsdorf  Georgio  Cassandro:  ii)id. 
p.  38-45.  Had  not  the  facts  been  attested  by  two  such  credible  eye- 
witnesses we  might  have  suspected  the  author  of  the  Martyrology  of 
exaggeration  in  his  narrative  of  the  shocking  scene.  Dryander's  letter 
is  dated  "20  Februarii;"  and  that  it  was  written  in  1541,  appears 
from  comparing  it  with  Histoire  des  Martyrs,  f  119,  b. 

t  EpistolaB  Selectiores,  p.  66.  I  have  not  seen  this  catechism  men- 
tioned  elsewhere. 

10 


138  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Inquisition.  The  circumstance  of  a  Spaniard  being 
accused  of  Lutheranism,  together  with  the  character 
which  he  bore  for  learning,  attracted  much  interest 
in  Rome ;  and  his  examination  was  attended  by  the 
principal  bishops  and  cardinals.  Undaunted  by  the 
solemnity  of  the  court,  he  avowed  his  sentiments,  and 
defended  them  with  such  spirit  that  his  judges,  irri- 
tated at  his  boldness,  condemned  him  instantly  to  the 
flames;  a  sentence  which  was  loudly  called  for  by 
such  of  his  countrymen  as  were  present.  Attempts 
were  afterwards  made  to  mduce  him  to  recant,  by 
the  offer  of  reconciliation  to  the  church  upon  his  ap- 
pearing publicly  with  the  san-benito,  according  to  the 
custom  of  his  native  country.  But  he  refused  to  pur- 
chase his  life  on  such  conditions,  and  died  at  the  stake 
with  the  utmost  constancy  and  courage.  His  martyr- 
dom happened  in  the  year  1546.* 

About  the  same  time  that  Enzinas  suffered,  one  of 
his  countrymen  and  intimate  friends  met  with  a  still 
more  tragical  fate  in  Germany.  Juan  Diaz,  a  native 
of  Cuenga,  after  he  had  studied  for  several  years  at 
Paris,  was  converted  to  the  Protestant  religion  by  the 
private  instructions  of  Ja^mie  Enzinas.  Being  liber- 
ally educated,  he  had,  previously  to  that  event,  con- 
ceived a  disgust  at  the  scholastic  theology,  and  made 
himself  master  of  the  Hebrew  language,  that  he  might 
study  the  Bible  in  the  original.  With  the  view  of 
enjoying  the  freedom  of  professing  the  faith  which  he 
had  embraced,  lie  left  Paris  in  company  with  Mat- 
thew Bude  and  John  Crespin,  and  went  to  Geneva, 
where  he  resided  for  some  time  in  the  house  of  his 
countryman  Pedro  Galcs.t  Having  removed  to  Stras- 
burg  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  1546,  his  talents  and 

*  Pclliccr,  Ensayo,  p.  78,  79.  Hist,  dcs  Martyrs,  f.  159.  Boza 
places  liis  martyrdom  in  1515,  by  mistake.  (Icoiics,  s\g.  Kk.  ij.) 
Gerdcs  (Ili.st.  Reform,  iii.  165.)  calls  Jiiin  Nicolas  Ensinas;  probably 
misled  by  the  letter  N  put  before  bis  name  in  the  Actiones  ct  Monim. 
Martyruin,  (f.  151,  a.)  which  merely  intimates  that  the  writer  ot  the 
article  was  ignorant  of  the  martyr's  Christian  name.  Pelliccr  calls 
him  "cl  doctor  Juan  do  Ensinas,"  confounding  him  with  one  of  his 
brothers  already  mentioned. 

t  Calvini  Epist.  p.  39 :  Opera,  torn.  ix. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  139 

suavity  of  manners  recommended  him  so  strongly  to 
the  celebrated  Bucer,  that  he  prevailed  on  the  senate 
to  join  the  Spanish  stranger  with  himself  in  a  deputa- 
tion which  tliey  were  about  to  send  to  a  conference 
on  the  disputed  points  of  religion  to  be  held  at  Ratis- 
bon.  On  going  thither  Diaz  met  with  his  countryman 
Pedro  Malvenda,  whom  he  had  known  at  Paris,  and 
was  now  to  confront  as  an  antagonist  at  the  confer- 
ence. To  the  pride  and  religious  prejudices  of  his 
countrymen,  Malvenda  added  the  rudeness  of  a  doctor 
of  the  Sorbonne,  and  the  insolence  of  a  minion  of  the 
court.*  When  informed  by  Diaz  of  the  change  which 
had  taken  place  in  his  sentiments,  he  expressed  the 
utmost  surprise  and  horror;  saying,  that  the  heretics 
would  boast  more  of  making  a  convert  of  a  single 
Spaniard  than  of  ten  thousand  Germans.  Having 
laboured  in  vain,  at  different  interviews,  to  reclaim 
him  to  the  catholic  faith,  he  laid  the  matter  before  the 
emperor's  confessor.  It  is  not  known  what  consulta- 
tions they  had;  but  a  Spaniard,  named  Marquina, 
who  had  transactions  with  them,  repaired  soon  after 
to  Rome,  and  communicated  the  facts  to  a  brother  of 
Diaz,  Doctor  Alfonso,!  who  had  long  held  the  office 
of  advocate  in  the  sacred  Rota.  The  pride  and  bigo- 
try of  Alfonso  were  inflamed  to  the  highest  degree  by 
the  intelligence  of  his  brother's  defection ;  and  taking 
along  with  him  a  suspicious  attendant,  he  set  out  in- 
stantly for  Germany,  determined,  in  one  way  or  other, 
to  wipe  off"  the  infamy  which  had  fallen  on  the  hith- 
erto spotless  honour  of  his  family.  In  the  mean  time, 
alarmed  at  some  expressions  of  Malvenda,  and  know- 
ing the  inveteracy  with  which  the  Spaniards  hated 
such  of  their  countrymen  as  had  become  Protestants, 
Bucer  and  the  other  friends  of  Juan  Diaz  had  pre- 
vailed upon  him  to  retire  for  a  season  to  Neuburg,  a 
small  town  in  Bavaria  situated  on  the  Danube.     On 

*  Seekendorf,  Hist.  Lutheranismi,  lib.  iii.  p.  623. 

t  He  had  another  brother  named  Esteban,  who  entered  his  novi- 
ciate, along-  with  Father  Ribadeneyra,  among-  the  Jesuits,  but  left  the 
order,  and  is  said  to  have  been  killed  in  a  duel.  (Ribadeneyra,  Dia- 
log-o  sobre  los  que  se  salen  de  Religion,  MS.:  Pellicer,  Ensayo,  p.  74. 


140  HISTORY    OF    THE 

arriving  at  Ratisbon,  Alfonso  succeeded  in  discovering 
the  place  of  his  brother's  retreat,  and  after  consulting 
with  Malvenda,  repaired  to  Neuburg.  By  every  art 
of  persuasion  he  sought  during  several  days  to  bring 
back  his  brother  to  the  church  of  Rome.  Disappoint- 
ed in  this,  he  altered  his  method, — professed  that  the 
arguments  which  he  had  heard  had  shaken  his  confi- 
dence, and  listened  with  apparent  eagerness  and  satis- 
faction to  his  brother  while  he  explained  to  him  the 
Protestant  doctrines,  and  the  passages  of  Scripture  on 
which  they  rested.  Finding  Juan  delighted  with  this 
unexpected  change,  he  proposed  that  he  should  ac- 
company him  to  Italy,  where  there  was  a  greater  field 
of  usefulness  in  disseminating  the  doctrines  of  the  gos- 
pel than  in  Germany,  which  was  already  provided 
with  an  abundance  of  labourers.  The  guileless  Juan 
promised  to  think  seriously  on  this  proposal,  which 
he  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  his  Protestant  friends. 
They  were  unanimously  of  opinion  that  he  should  re- 
ject it;  and  in  particular  Ochino,  who  had  lately  fled 
from  Italy  and  was  then  at  Augsburg,  pointed  out  the 
danger  and  hopeless  nature  of  the  project.  Alfonso 
did  not  yet  desist.  He  insisted  that  his  brother  should 
accompany  him  at  least  as  far  as  Augsburg,  promising 
to  acquiesce  in  the  decision  Avhich  Ochino  should  pro- 
nounce after  they  had  conversed  with  him  on  the  sub- 
ject. His  request  appeared  so  reasonable  that  Juan 
agreed  to  it ;  but  he  was  prevented  from  going  by  the 
arrival  of  Bucer  and  two  other  friends,  who,  having 
finished  their  business  at  Ratisbon,  and  fearing  that 
Juan  Diaz  might  be  induced  to  act  contrary  to  their 
late  advice,  had  agreed  to  pay  him  a  visit.  Conceal- 
ing the  chagrin  which  he  felt  at  this  unexpected  ob- 
stacle, Alfonso  took  an  aflectionate  leave  of  his  bro- 
ther, after  he  had,  in  a  private  interview,  forced  a  sum 
of  money  upon  him,  expressed  warm  gratitude  for  tlie 
spiritual  benefit  he  had  received  from  his  conversation, 
and  warned  him  to  be  on  his  guard  against  Malvenda. 
He  proceeded  to  Augsburg  on  the  road  to  Italy;  but 
next  day,  after  using  various  precautions  to  conceal 
liis  route,  he  returned,  along  with  the  man  whom  he 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  141 

had  brought  from  Rome,  and  spent  the  night  in  a  vil- 
lage at  a  small  distance  from  Neuburg.  Early  next 
morning,  being  the  27th  of  March  1546,  they  came 
to  the  house  where  his  brother  lodged.  Alfonso  stood 
at  the  gate,  while  his  attendant,  knocking  at  the  door 
and  announcing  that  he  was  the  bearer  of  a  letter  to 
Juan  Diaz  from  his  brother,  was  shown  up  stairs  to 
an  apartment.  On  hearing  of  a  letter  from  his  bro- 
ther Juan  sprang  from  his  bed,  hastened  to  the  apart- 
ment  in  an  undress,  took  the  letter  from  the  hand  of 
the  bearer,  and  as  it  was  still  dark,  went  to  the  win- 
dow to  read  it,  when  the  ruffian,  stepping  softly  be- 
hind him,  despatched  his  unsuspecting  victim  with 
one  stroke  of  an  axe  which  he  had  concealed  under 
his  cloak.  He  then  joined  the  more  guilty  murderer, 
who  now  stood  at  the  stair-foot  to  prevent  interrup- 
tion, and  ready,  if  necessary,  to  give  assistance  to  the 
assassin  whom  he  had  hired  to  execute  his  purpose.* 
Alarmed  by  the  noise  which  the  assassin's  spurs 
made  on  the  steps  as  he  descended,  the  person  who 
slept  with  Juan  Diaz  rose  hastily,  and  going  into  the 
adjoining  apartment  beheld,  with  unutterable  feel- 
ings, his  friend  stretched  on  the  floor  and  Aveltering 
in  his  blood,  with  his  hands  clasped,  and  the  instru- 
ment of  death  fixed  in  his  head.  The  murderers  were 
fled,  and  had  provided  a  relay  of  horses  to  convey 
them  quickly  out  of  Germany;  but  the  pursuit  after 
them,  which  commenced  as  soon  as  alarm  could  be 
given,  was  so  hot,  that  they  were  overtaken  at  In- 
spruck,  and  secured  in  prison.  Otho  Henry,  count 
palatine  of  the  Rhine  and  duke  of  Bavaria,  within 
whose  territories  the  crime  was  perpetrated,  lost 
no  time  in  taking  the  necessary  measures  for  having 
it  judicially  tried.  Lawyers  were  sent  from  Neuburg 
with  the  night-cap  of  the  deceased,  the  bloody  axe, 
the  letter  of  Alfonso,  and  other  documents;  but  though 

*  Y  si  es  asi,  la  dare 
Senor  a  mi  mismo  hermano 
Y  en  nada  reparare. 
So  let  him  die,  for  sentence  Ortiz  pleads ; 
Were  he  my  brother,  by  this  hand  he  bleeds. 

Lope  de  Vega,  Estrella  de  Sevilla. 


142  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  prisoners  were  arraigned  before  the  criminal  court 
at  Inspruck,  the  trial  was  suspended  through  the  in- 
fluence of  the  cardinals  of  Trent  and  Augsburg,  to 
whom  the  fratricide  obtained  liberty  to  write  at  the 
beginning  of  his  imprisonment.  When  his  plea  for 
the  benefit  of  clergy  was  set  aside  as  contrary  to 
the  laws  of  Germany,  various  legal  quirks  were  re- 
sorted to;  and,  at  last,  the  judges  produced  an  order 
from  the  emperor,  prohibiting  them  from  proceeding 
with  the  trial,  and  reserving  the  cause  for  the  judg- 
ment of  his  brother  Ferdinand,  king  of  the  Romans. 
When  the  Protestant  princes,  at  the  subsequent  diet  of 
Ratisbon,  demanded,  first  of  the  emperor  and  after- 
wards of  his  brother,  that  the  murderers  should  be 
punished,  their  requests  were  evaded;*  and,  in  the 
issue,  the  murderers  were  allowed  to  escape  untried 
and  with  impunity,  to  the  outraging  of  humanity 
and  justice,  and  the  disgrace  of  the  church  of  Rome, 
whose  authorities  were  bound  to  see  that  the  most 
rigorous  scrutiny  was  made  into  the  horrid  deed,  un- 
der the  pain  of  being  held  responsible  for  it  to  heaven 
and  to  posterity.  The  liberated  fratricide  appeared 
openly  at  Trent,  along  with  his  bloody  accomplice, 
without  exciting  a  shudder  in  the  breasts  of  the  holy 
fathers  met  in  council ;  he  was  welcomed  back  to  Rome ; 
and  finally  returned  to  his  native  country  where  he 
was  admitted  to  the  society  of  men  of  rank  and  educa- 
tion, who  listened  to  him  while  he  coolly  related  the 
circumstance  of  his  sanctified  crime. t  Different  per- 
sons published  accounts,^  agreeing  in  every  material 
pohit,  of  a  murder  which,  all  circumstances  consider- 
ed, has  scarcely  a  parallel  in  the  annals  of  blood  since 
the  time  of  the  first  fratricide,  and  aftbrds  a  striking 
proof  of  the  degree  in  which  fanatical  zeal  will  stifle 
the  tenderest  aflections  of  the  himian  breast,  and  stim- 

*  Sleidani  Comment,  torn.  ii.  p.  458. 

t  Sepulvedce  Opera,  tom.  ii.  p.  132. 

I  One  of  tliese  narratives  was  written  by  Melancthon,  under  the 
title  of  Historie  von  Alfonso  Diacio.  (Slcidan,  ii.  440,  not.  i.)  An 
ample  account  is  given  in  Act.  ct  Monini.  Martyrum,  f.  126,  b.-139, 
a.  C'onf.  Sleidan,  ii.  435-441.  Seckendorf,  lib.  iii.  p.  653-658.  Cal- 
vini  Epist.  p.  39  :  Opera,  torn.  ix. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  143 

ulate  to  the  perpetration  of  crimes  the  most  atrocious 
and  unnatural. 

The  narrative  which  I  have  followed  was  drawn 
up  and  published  at  the  time  by  Claude  Senarcle,* 
a  noble  young  Savoyard,  who  was  strongly  attached 
to  Juan  Diaz,  had  accompanied  him  from  the  time  he 
left  Paris,  and  slept  in  the  same  bed  with  him  on  the 
night  before  his  murder.  Its  accuracy  is  confirmed 
by  the  attestation  of  Bucer,  who  was  personally  ac- 
quainted with  many  of  the  facts,  as  well  as  with  the 
character  of  the  author.!  But  indeed  so  far  were  the 
Roman  catholics  from  denying  the  facts,  that  many 
of  them,  and  especially  the  countrymen  of  Diaz,  justi- 
fied and  even  applauded  the  deed.:}:  Juan  Ginez  de 
Sepulveda,  who  professes  to  have  received  the  facts 
from  the  mouth  of  the  terrrible  hero  of  the  tragedy, 
has  given  an  account  of  them  so  completely  in  accor- 
dance with  Senarcle's,  that  we  might  suppose  he  had 

*  Calvin  mentions  that  Diaz  had  left  Geneva, "  cum  duobus  Senar- 
clenis."  (Epistolas,  p.  39  :  Opera,  torn,  ix.)  Maimbourg-  imputes 
the  departure  of  Diaz  from  Geneva  to  his  dislike  of  the  harsh  temper 
and  opinions  of  the  Genevese  reformer;  one  of  the  fictions  of  that  dis- 
ingenuous historian,  which  is  refuted  by  the  statement  of  Senarcle, 
(Hist,  Diazii,  ut  infra,  p.  33,  34.)  and  by  the  fact  that  Diaz  maintain- 
ed a  confidential  correspondence  v^^ith  Calvin  after  the  period  referred 
to.  (Lettres  de  Calvin  a  Jaque  de  Burgogne,  Seigneur  de  Falais  et 
de  Bredam,  p.  48,  56.     Amst.  1744.) 

t  Historia  Vera  de  Morte  sancti  uiri  Joannis  Diazii  Hispani,  quern 
eius  fratcr  germanus  Alphonsus  Diazius,  exemplum  sequutus  primi 
parricidse  Cain,  uelutalterum  Abelem,  nefarie  interfecit :  per  Claudium 
Senarclseum,  1546,  Svo.  Prefixed  to  the  work  is  an  epistle  from 
Martin  Bucer  to  count  Otho  Henry,  and  another  from  the  author  to 
Bucer.  Appended  to  it  is  a  short  treatise  by  the  martyr,  under  the 
following  title:  Christianae  Religionis  Summa:  ad  illustrissimum 
principem  Dominum  D.  Ottonem  Heinricum,  Palatinum  Rheni,  et 
utriusque  Bavariae  Ducem.     Joanne  DiazioHispano  autore. 

X  Senarclaeus,  Hist,  de  Morte  Diazii,  p.  169;  et  Buceri  Epist.  pras- 
fix.  sig.  fit.  5,  b.  Bezse  Icones,  sig.  Kk.  iij.  Act.  et  Monim.  Martyrum, 
f.  138,  b,  139,  a.  Sepulveda  expressly  says,  "  the  news  of  the  slaugh- 
ter were  disagreeable  to  none  of  our  countrymen — de  patrata  nece 
nuntius  nuUi  nostrorum  ingratus;"  and  he  adds  that  the  emperor 
evidently  showed,  by  protecting  Alfonso,  that  he  approved  of  his 
spirit  and  deed.  (Sepulvcdae  Opera,  tom.  ii.  p.  132.)  Maimbourg, 
who  wrote  at  the  close  of  the  17th  century,  condemns  the  murder, 
but  his  narrative  shows  that  he  felt  little  abhorrence  at  it.  (Hist,  du 
Luthcranisme,  sect.  37.) 


144 


HISTORY    OF    THE 


abridged  that  work,  in  the  way  of  substituting  the 
atrocious  moral  of  fanaticism  for  the  touching  senti- 
ments of  friendship,  charity,  and  piety,  which  pervade 
the  whole  narrative  of  the  Protestant  historian.*'  It 
is  humbling  to  think  that  Sepulveda  was  one  of  the 
inost  elegant  prose  writers  who  flourished  at  that  time 
in  Spain. 

Francisco  Enzinas  continued,  after  his  brother's  de- 
parture to  Italy,  to  reside  at  Louvain.  But  though  he 
hved  on  good  terms  with  the  professors  of  the  universi- 
ty, he  found  his  situation  becoming  daily  more  irksome 
and  painful.  Among  the  learned  Protestants  in  the 
neighbourhood  with  whom  he  carrried  on  a  confiden- 
tial correspondence  were  Albert  Hardenberg,  preach- 
er to  the  Cistercian  monastery  of  Adwert,  which, 
since  the  days  of  John  Wessel,  the  Dutch  Wiclifle, 
had  resembled  an  academy  more  than  a  convent ;  and 
the  celebrated  Polish  nobleman,  John  a  Lasco,  who 
had  left  his  native  country  from  attachment  to  the 
reformed  faith,  and  was  eminently  successful  in  diflu- 
sing  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  in  East  Friesland.  It 
would  appear  that  the  parents  of  Enzinas  had  intend- 
ed him  for  the  army,  to  which  he  was  now  decidedly 
averse.  In  a  letter  to  A  Lasco,  accompanying  the  pre- 
sent of  an  ancient  and  richly-mounted  sword,  which 
he  had  received  from  a  nobleman,  he  says:  "  All  the 
world,  will,  I  know,  be  in  arms  against  me  on  account 
of  the  resolution  which,  in  opposition  to  the  advice  of 
some  worthy  men,  I  have  now  formed  to  devote  my- 
self to  literary  pursuits.  But  I  will  not  sufl'er  myself, 
from  respect  to  the  favour  of  men,  to  hold  the  truth 
in  unrighteousness,  or  to  treat  unbecomingly  those 
gifts  which  God  in  his  free  mercy  has  been  pleased  to 
confer  on  me,  unworthy  as  I  am.  On  the  contrary, 
it  shall  be  my  endeavour  according  to  my  ability,  to 
propagate  divine  truth.  That  I  may  do  this  by  the 
grace  of  God,  I  find  tiiat  it  will  be  necessary  for  me, 
in  the  first  place,  to  fly  from  the  Babylonian  captivity, 

*  Joannis  Gcnesii  Scuulvcdce  Opera,  torn.  ii.  p.  127-132.    Matriti, 
1780,  4to. 


REFORMATION    IN     SPAIN.  145 

and  to  retire  to  a  place  in  which  I  shall  be  at  liberty 
to  cultivate  unclefiled  religion  and  true  Christianity, 
along  with  liberal  studies.  It  is  therefore  my  purpose 
to  repair  to  Wittenberg,  because  that  city  contains  an 
abundance  of  learned  professors  in  all  the  sciences, 
and  I  entertain  so  high  an  esteem  for  the  learning, 
judgment,  and  dexterity  in  teaching  possessed  by 
Philip  Melancthon  in  particular,  that  I  would  go  to 
the  end  of  the  world  to  enjoy  the  company  and  in- 
structions of  such  men.  I  therefore  earnestly  beg 
that,  as  your  name  has  great  weight,  you  will  have 
the  goodness  to  favour  me  with  letters  of  introduc- 
tion to  Luther,  Philip,  and  other  learned  men  in  that 
city."*  He  accordingly  paid  a  visit  to  Wittenberg, 
where  he  was  warmly  received  by  all,  and  especially 
by  the  individual  for  whom  he  had  expressed  so  high 
a  veneration.  But  he  returned  to  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, probably  by  the  advice  of  Melancthon,  to  la- 
bour in  a  work  which  promised  to  be  of  the  great- 
est benefit  to  his  native  country.  This  was  the 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  the  Spanish 
language. 

Though  Spain  was  the  only  nation  which  at  that 
time  did  not  possess  the  Scriptures  in  the  vulgar  lan- 
guage, it  had  not  always  laboured  under  that  defi- 
ciency. In  the  year  1233,  Juan  I.  of  Aragon,  by  a 
public  edict,  prohibited  the  use  of  any  part  of  the  Old 
or  New  Testament  in  the  vernacular  tongue,  and  com- 
manded all,  whether  laity  or  clergy,  who  possessed 
such  books,  to  deliver  them  to  their  ordinaries  to  be 
burnt,  on  the  pain  of  being  held  suspected  of  heresy.t 
On  the  other  hand  Alfonso  X.  of  Castile  caused  the  sa- 
cred Scriptures  to  be  translated  into  Castilian,  with  the 
view  of  improving  the  native  language  of  his  people ; 
and  a  copy  of  that  translation,  executed  in  the  year 

*  Franciscus  Dryander  Joanni  a  Lasco  Baroni,  Lovanii  x.  die 
Mali  1541 :  Gerdcsii  Hist.  Reform,  torn.  iii.  append,  no.  vii.  Conf. 
Epist.  Selectiores,  p.  58. 

t  Du  Cange,  Glossarium,  v.  Romancium.  Constitutiones  Jacobi 
regis  Aragonum  adversus  Ha^reticos  :  Martene  et  Durand,  Veter. 
Script,  et  Monum.  Hist.  Collect,  torn.  vii.  p.  123,  124. 


146  HISTORY    OF    THE 

1260,  is  still  presented  in  manuscript.*  Other  ancient 
versions  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  Limosin,  or  Cata- 
lonian,  and  Castilian,  dialects,  are  still  to  be  seen,  in 
whole  or  in  part,  among  the  manuscripts  in  the  pub- 
lic libraries  of  Spain  and  France.!  Bonifacio  Ferrer, 
brother  of  St.  Vincente  Ferrer,  and  prior  of  the  Car- 
thusian monastery  of  Portaceli  in  Valencia,  who  died 
in  the  year  1417,  translated  the  whole  Scriptures  into 
the  Valencian  or  Catalonian  dialect  of  Spain.  His 
translation  Avas  printed  at  Valencia  in  the  year  1478, 
at  the  expense  of  Philip  Vizlant  a  merchant  of  Isny 
in  Germany  by  Alfonso  Fernandez,  a  Spaniard  of 
Cordova,  and  Lambert  Philomar,  a  German.  But, 
although  it  was  the  production  of  a  catholic  author, 
and  underwent  the  examination  and  correction  of  the 
inquisitor  James  Borrell,  it  had  scarcely  made  its  ap- 
pearance when  it  was  suppressed  by  the  Inquisition, 
who  ordered  the  whole  impression  to  be  devoured  by 
the  flames.  J  So  strictly  was  this  order  carried  into 
execution,  that  scarcely  a  single  copy  appears  to  have 
escaped.  Long  after  the  era  of  the  Reformation,  it 
was  taken  for  granted  by  all  true  Spaniards  that  tlieir 
language  had  never  been  made  the  unhallowed  in- 
strument of  exposing  the  Bible  to  vulgar  eyes;  and 
with  the  exception  of  two  incidental  allusions,  the 
translation  of  Ferrer  remained  unnoticed  for  nearly 
two  hundred  years  after  its  publication. §  At  length, 
in  1645,  the  last  four  leaves  of  a  copy  of  this  edition 

*  Rodriguez  de  Castro,  Bibl.  Espanola,  torn.  i.  p.  411-426,  where 
extracts  of  the  translation  are  given  from  the  MS.  in  the  Library  of 
the  Escurial. 

t  Lc  Long,  Bibl.  ?acr.  torn,  i  p.  361.  Paris.  1723,  2  toni.  fol.  Rod- 
riguez de  Castro,  i.  431-440.  Ocios  dc  Espanolcs  Eniigrados,  toni.  i. 
p.  3.0. 

X  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  prohibited  all,  under  the  severest  pains, 
from  translating  tlie  sacred  Scripture  into  the  vulgar  tongues,  or  from 
using  it  when  translated  by  others.  (Alphonsus  de  Castro  contra 
Hcereses,  lib.  i.  cap.  13;  apud  Sclielhorn,  Amoinit.  Liter,  tom.  viii. 
p.  485.) 

§  It  is  mentioned  by  Frederico  Furio,  in  a  treatise  entitled  Bononia, 
printed  in  1556;  (Rodriguez  dc  Castro,  Bibl.  Espan.  i.  448.)  and  by 
Cypriano  de  Valcra,  in  iiis  Exhortacion  al  Christiano  Lector,  prefix- 
ed to  his  Spanish  Bible  printed  in  1602. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  147 

were  discovered  in  the  library  belonging  to  the  mon- 
astery of  Portaceli.  The  number  was  reduced  within 
a  short  time  to  one  leaf;  but  happily  this  contained 
the  imprint,  or  final  epigraph,  indicating  the  names 
of  the  translator  and  printers,  together  with  the  place 
and  year  of  the  impression.*  According  to  some  au- 
thors, the  version  of  Ferrer  underwent,  about  the 
year  1515,  a  second  impression,  which  shared  the 
same  fate  as  its  predecessor ;  but  of  this  statement  the 
evidence  is  less  complete  and  satisfactory.! 

Apparently  ignorant  that  his  native  country  had 
once  possessed  such  a  treasure,  and  anxious  that  they 
should  be  supplied  with  it,  Francisco  de  Enzinas  un- 
dertook a  translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  the 
Castilian  tongue.  Having  finished  his  task,  he  sub- 
mitted the  work  to  the  judgment  of  the  divines  of 
Louvain.  They  allowed  that  there  was  no  law  of 
the  state  prohibiting  the  printing  of  translations  of  the 
Scriptures,  but  expressed  their  fears  that  such  works 
would  lead  to  the  spread  of  heresy  and  disturbance  of 
the  peace  of  the  church,  and  excused  themselves  from 
either  sanctioning  or  censuring  the  undertaking,  on 
the  ground  of  their  ignorance  of  the  Spanish  tongue. 
The  private  friends  of  the  translator,  who  were  ac- 
quainted with  both  languages,  gave  it  as  their  opin- 
ion, after  examining  the  work,  that  it  would  be  a 
great  honour  as  well  as  benefit  to  Spain.J  It  was  ac- 
cordingly printed  at  Antwerp  in  the  year  1543,  under 

*  The  imprint  has  been  copied  in  Bayer's  edition  of  Antonii  Bibl. 
Hisp.  Vet.  torn.  ii.  p.  214,  note  (.2.);  in  Mendez,  Typogr.  Espan.  p. 
62  ;  and  in  Ocios  de  Espanoles  Emigrados,  torn.  i.  p.  36.  Along- 
with  the  imprint,  the  translation,  from  Rev.  xx.  8.  to  the  close  of  the 
book,  is  given  by  Rodriguez  de  Castro,  Biblioteca  Espanola,  torn.  i.  p. 
444-448. 

t  Frederici  Furii  Bononia,  apud  Le  Long,  Bibl.  Sacra,  torn.  i.  p. 
362.  Before  meeting  with  this  authority,  I  was  inclined  to  think 
that  Dr.  Alexander  Geddes  had  alluded  to  the  original  impression  of 
Ferrer's  version,  of  which  he  mistook  the  date,  when  he  says,  "  A 
Spanish  translation  of  the  Bible  was  printed  in  1516.  It  has  been  so 
totally  destroyed  that  hardly  a  copy  of  it  is  to  be  found."  (Prospec- 
tus of  a  New  Translation  of  the  Bible,  p.  109.)  Quere  :  Was  a  copy 
to  be  found  ?     According  to  Furio  the  date  of  printing  was  1515. 

X  Gerdesii  Hist.  Reform,  tom.  iii.  p.  166. 


148  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  title  of  "  The  New  Testament,  that  is,  the  New 
Covenant  of  our  only  Redeemer  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ,  translated  from  Greek  into  the  Castilian  lan- 
guage." The  purblind  monks,  to  whom  it  was  sub- 
mitted before  publication,  could  not  proceed  further 
than  the  title-page.  One  of  them,  whose  pretensions 
to  learning  Avere  not  the  least  among  those  of  his  or- 
der, smelled  Lutheranism  in  the  "the  new  covenant." 
The  leaf  was  cancelled,  and  the  suspicious  phrase 
struck  out.  He  next  pointed  out  a  palpable  heresy  in 
the  expression  "our  only  Redeemer."  Recourse  was 
again  had  to  the  operation  of  cancellmg,  and  the  ob- 
noxious particle  expelled.  But  his  success  in  discov- 
ery only  served  to  quicken  the  censorial  organ  of  the 
monk;  so  that  the  author,  despairing  to  see  an  end  of 
the  process,  gave  directions  for  putting  the  work  into 
the  hands  of  the  booksellers.* 

The  emperor  having  soon  after  arrived  at  Brussels, 
the  author  presented  a  copy  of  the  work  to  him,  and 
requested  his  permission  to  circulate  it  among  his 
countrymen.  Charles  received  it  graciously,  and  pro- 
mising his  patronage,  if  it  were  found  to  contain  no- 
thing contrary  to  the  faith,  gave  it  to  his  confessor 
Pedro  de  Sotot  to  examine.  After  various  delays, 
Enzinas,  having  waited  on  the  confessor,  was  upbraid- 
ed by  him  as  an  enemy  to  religion,  who  had  tarnish- 
ed the  honour  of  his  native  country;  and  refushig  to 

*  The  work  appeared  under  the  following-  title :  "  El  Nuevo  Tes- 
tamento  de  nuestro  Redemptor  y  Salvador  Jesu  Christo,  traduzido  de 
Griego  en  lengua  Castellana,  por  Francisco  de  Enzinas,  dcdicado  a  la 
Cesarea  Magcstad.  Habla  Dios.  Josnc,  i.  No  se  apartc  cl  libro  dc 
csta  ley,  &c.  m.d.xliii."  On  the  reverse  is  a  qnotation  from  Dcut. 
xvii.  Then  follows  the  dedication  to  Charles  V.,  to  whieh  are  added 
four  Spanish  coplas.  The  imprint  at  the  end  of  the  work  is,  "  Aca- 
bose  de  imprimir  cste  libro  en  la  insigne  ^ibdad  de  Envercs,  en  casa 
de  Estevan  Micrdmanno,  im pressor  de  libros,  a  25.  de  Octubre,  en  cl 
anno  del  Scnor  de  m.d.xliii."  The  work  is  divided  into  chapters,  but 
not  into  verses;    and  is  beautifully  printed  in  small  8vo. 

t  Soto  afterwards  accompanied  Philip  II.  into  England,  and  was 
incorporated  at  Oxford,  14  Nov.  1555.  (Wood's  Fasti  Oxon.  edit. 
Bliss,  p.  148.)  After  taking  an  active  part  in  the  prosecution  of  the 
English  Protestants,  he  was  himself  prosecuted,  on  his  return  to 
Spain,  before  the  Inquisition  of  Valladolid,  as  suspected  of  heresy. 
(Llorcnte,  iii.  88.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  149 

acknowledge  a  fault,  was  seized  by  the  oflicers  of  jus- 
tice and  thrown  into  prison.  Besides  the  crime  of 
translating  the  Scriptures,  he  was  charged  with  hav-r 
ing  made  a  translation  of  a  Avork  of  Luther,  and  visit- 
ing Melancthon.*  To  add  to  his  distress,  his  father 
and  uncles,  hearing  of  his  imprisonment,  paid  him  a 
visit,  and  participating  in  the  common  prejudices  of 
their  countrymen,  reproached  him  for  bringing  calam- 
ity on  himself,  and  dishonour  on  his  kindred.  He 
continued  however  to  possess  his  soul  in  patience,t 
employed  his  time  in  translating  the  Psalms,  and  re- 
ceived many  marks  of  sympathy  from  the  citizens  of 
Brussels,  of  whom  he  knew  more  than  four  hundred 
warmly  attached  to  the  Protestant  faith.  After  a  con- 
finement of  fifteen  months,  he  one  day  found  his  pri- 
son doors  open,  and  walking  out  without  the  slightest 
opposition,  escaped  from  Brussels  and  arrived  safely 
at  Wittenberg ;  an  escape  the  more  remarkable  that  a 
hot  persecution  raged  at  that  time  throughout  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  portraits  of  the  protestant  preach- 
ers, accompanied  with  the  ofter  of  a  reward  for  their 
apprehension,  were  to  be  seen  affixed  to  the  gates  of  all 
the  principal  cities.  J  The  foUoAving  extract  shows  the 
steps  taken  against  him  after  his  flight.  "  The  inqui- 
sitors in  Belgium  have  summoned  my  guest,  the  wise, 
upright  and  pious  Spaniard,  in  his  absence ;  and  from 
the  day  fixed  for  hi  ^  appearance,  we  conclude  that 

*  One  fault  found  with  the  translation  was,  that  Rom.  iii.  28,  was 
put  in  large  characters,  which  had  been  done  by  the  printer  without 
any  directions  from  tlie  author.  Enzinas  was  at  Wittenberg  in  Feb- 
ruary 1543.     (Melanchthonis  Epist.  col.  570.) 

t  "  I  am  persuaded,"  says  Melancthon,  in  a  letter  to  Camerarius, 
25  Dec.  1545,  "  you  will  feel  great  pleasure  in  reading  the  letter  of 
Francis  my  Spanish  guest,  written  from  his  prison  in  Belgium.  His 
magnanimity  will  delight  you."     (Epistolse,  col.  842.) 

i  Melancthonis  Epist.  col.  848.  Gerdesii  Hist.  Reform,  iii.  173. 
In  a  letter  to  his  friend  Camerarius,  16  cal.  Aprilis  1545,  Melanc- 
thon says,  "  Our  Spanish  friend  Franciscus  has  returned,  being  set 
free  by  a  divine  interposition,  without  the  help  of  any  man,  so  far  as 
he  knows  at  least.  I  have  enjoined  him  to  draw  up  a  narrative  of 
the  affair,  which  shall  be  sent  you."  (Epist.  col.  848.)  This  narra- 
tive was  printed  at  Antwerp  in  1545.  It  is  inserted  at  length  by  Ra- 
bus,  in  his  German  Martyrology,  vol.  vii.  p.  1707-2319,  and  abridg- 
ed  by  Gerdes,  in  his  Hist.  Reform,  torn.  iii.  p.  1G6-172. 


150  HISTORY    OF    THE 

sentence  has  already  been  pronounced  against  him. 
He  sets  out  for  your  toAvn  to  ascertain  the  fact,  and  to 
learn  if  there  are  any  letters  for  him  from  that  quar- 
ter. I  have  given  him  a  letter  to  you,  both  that  I 
may  acquaint  you  with  the  cause  of  his  journey,  and 
because  I  know  you  feel  for  the  calamities  of  all  good 
men.  He  evinces  great  fortitude,  though  he  evident- 
ly sees  that  his  return  to  his  parents  and  native  coun- 
try is  nov/  cut  off.  The  thought  of  the  anguish  which 
this  will  give  to  his  parents  distresses  him.  These  in- 
quisitors are  as  cruel  to  us  as  the  thirty  tyrants  were 
of  old  to  their  fellow-citizens  at  Athens;  but  God  will 
preserve  the  remnant  of  his  church,  and  provide  an 
asylum  for  the  truth  somewhere."^  In  another  letter, 
written  in  the  year  1546,  the  same  individual  says, 
"  Franciscus  the  Spaniard  has  resolved  to  go  to  Italy, 
that  he  may  assuage  the  grief  of  his  mother.^t  Whe- 
ther he  accomplished  that  journey  or  not,  is  uncer- 
tain; but  in  1548  he  went  to  England,  on  which  oc- 
casion he  was  warmly  recommended  by  JNIelancthon 
to  Edward  VI.  and  archbishop  Cranmer,  as  a  person 
of  excellent  endowments  and  learning,  averse  to  all 
fanatical  and  seditious  tenets,  and  disthiguished  by  his 
piety  and  grave  manners.  He  obtained  a  situation 
at  Oxford;  but  returning  soon  after  to  the  continent, 
he  resided  sometimes  at  Strasburg  and  sometimes  at 
Basle,  where  he  spent  his  time  in  literary  pursuits, 
and  in  the  society  of  the  wise  and  good,  J 

In  the  same  year  in  which  the  New  Testament  of 

*  Mclanchthon  Camerario.  20  Aug.  1545  :  Epistolcc,  col.  858. 

+  Ibid.  col.  874. 

I  Melanchthonis  Epist.  col.  494,  522,  911.  Strype's  Mem.  of 
Cranmer,  p.  404.  Gerdesii  Serin.  Antiquar.  tom.  iii.  p.  644;  iv.  666. 
Letters  from  him  arc  to  be  found  in  Gabbema,  Collect.  Epist.  Clar. 
Viror.  p.  40;  Olympian  Morata>  Opera,  p.  333;  Fox's  Acts  and  Monu- 
ments, p.  1628,  edit.  1596;  and  in  tiie  Library  of  Corpus  Christi ; 
Nasniyth's  C-atalojrue,  no.  exi.v.  94.  Enzinas  was  the  author  of  a 
Spanish  translation  of  Plutarch's  Lives,  (Antonii  Bibl.  Ilisp.  Nova,  tom. 
i.  p.  422.)  and  of  •'  Breve  Description  del  Pais  Baxo,  y  Razon  de  la 
Relif,non  en  JOspana  ;"  which  last  work,  accordinfr  toGerdes,  contains 
the  narrative  of  liis  imprisomncut  and  escape,  and  was]>rinted  both  in 
Latin  and  in  Erench.  (Gerdesii  Florilegium  Librorum  Rarioruin, 
p.  11 L    Pellicer,  Ensayo,  p.  80. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  151 

Enzinas  came  from  the  press,  a  Spanish  translation  of 
the  seven  penitential  Psalms,  the  Song  of  Solomon, 
and  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  was  printed  at 
Antwerp  by  Ferdinand  Jarava,  who,  three  years  be- 
fore, had  printed  the  Book  of  Job,  and  the  Psalms  for 
the  office  of  the  dead,  in  the  same  langnage  and  at 
the  same  place.  There  exists  also  a  copy  of  a  Spanish 
psalter  in  Gothic  letter,  without  date,  but  apparently 
ancient.* 

The  Jews  appear  to  have  early  had  translations  of 
the  Old  Testament,  or  parts  of  it,  in  Spanish.  In  1497, 
only  five  years  after  their  expulsion  from  the  Penin- 
sula, they  printed  the  Pentateuch  in  that  language  at 
Venice.  In  1547  this  work  was  printed  at  Con- 
stantinople in  Hebrew  characters,  and  in  1552  it  was 
reprinted  at  the  same  place  in  Roman  characters.t 
In  1553  they  printed  at  Ferrara  two  editions  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  Spanish ;  the  one  edited  by  Abra- 
ham Usque,  and  the  other  by  Duarte  Pinel.  Biblio- 
graphers have  generally  held  that  the  first  of  these 
was  intended  for  the  use  of  Jews,  and  the  last  for  the 
use  of  Christians;:}:  an  opinion  which  does  not  seem  to 
rest  on  good  grounds.  § 

At  the  time  that  Egidius  was  thrown  into  prison, 
several  of  his  religious  friends  became  alarmed  for 
their  safety,  and  took  refuge  in  Germany  and  Swit- 
zerland. Among  these  were  Juan  Perez,  Casiodoro 
de  Regna,  and  Cypriano  de  Valera,  who  were  indus- 

*  Rodriguez  de  Castro,  Bibl.  Espan.  torn.  i.  p.  449. 

t  Ibid.  p.  448. 

t  Such  is  the  opinion  of  Wolfius,  (Bibl.  Hebr.  torn  ii.  p.  451.)  who 
has  been  followed  by  Clement,  Brunet,  and  Dibdin,  in  his  ^des  Al- 
thorpianae,  torn.  i.  p.  86. 

§  Cassiodoro  de  Reyna,  Amonestacion,  prefixed  to  his  Spanisli 
translation  of  the  Bible.  Rodriguez  de  Castro,  i.  401-408  ;  where 
the  opinion  of  the  writers  referred  to  in  tlie  preceding  note  is  examin- 
ed. Usque  dedicated  his  edition  to  Dona  Gracia  Naci ;  and  Pinel  to 
the  duke  of  Ferrara.  The  latter  adopts  the  Christian  era,  and  in  the 
translation  of  Isa.  vii.  14.  makes  use  of  the  word  virgen^  whereas  the 
former  uses  vioza.  But  they  agree  exactly  in  their  translation  of 
all  the  other  passages  which  have  been  the  subject  of  dispute  be- 
tween Jews  and  Christians  ;  and  the  versions  arc  almost  entirely  the 
same. 


152  HISTORY    OF    THE 

triously  employed  during  their  exile,  in  providing 
the  means  of  religious  instruction  for  their  country- 
men. Juan  Perez  was  born  at  Montilla,  a  town 
of  Andalusia.  He  was  sent  to  Rome  in  1527,  as 
charge  d'^ affaires  of  Charles  V.,  and  procured  from 
the  pope  a  suspension  of  the  decree  by  which  the 
Spanish  divines  had  condemned  the  writings  of  Eras- 
mus.* Subsequently  he  was  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  College  of  Doctrine,  an  endowed  school  at  Se- 
ville, where  he  contracted  an  intimacy  with  Egidius 
and  other  favourers  of  the  reformed  opinions.  He  re- 
ceived the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity  in  his  native 
country;  and  his  talents  and  probity  secured  him  a 
high  place  in  the  esteem  of  the  foreigners  among 
whom  he  resided,  first  at  Geneva  and  afterwards  in 
France. t  The  works  which  he  composed  in  his  na- 
tive tongue  were  of  the  most  valuable  kind.  His  ver- 
sion of  the  New  Testament  came  from  the  press,  in 
1556;  J  his  version  of  the  Book  of  Psalms  followed  in 
the  course  of  the  subsequent  year;§  and  his  Catechism, 
and  Summary  of  Christian  doctrine,  appeared  about 

*  Llorente  (ii.  280.)  calls  him  "  Jean  Perez  de  Pineda."  Beza 
designates  him  "Joannes  Pierius." 

T  Pellicer,  Ensayo  do  Traductorcs  Espan.  p.  120.  Bezte  Icones, 
sig.  Ii.  iij. 

t  "  El  Tostamento  Neuvo  de  nucstro  Scnor  y  Salvador  Jesu  Cliris- 
to.  Ncuva  y  fielmente  traduzido  del  original  Gricgo  en  Romance 
Castellano.  En  Venecia,  en  casa  de  Juan  Pliiladclpho.  m.d.lvi."  It 
is  dedicated,  "  Al  todo  poderoso  Rey  de  cielos  y  tierra  Jesu  Christo," 
&c.  (Pellicer,  Ensayo,  p.  120,  121.  Riedcrer,  Nachrichtcn,  torn.  ii. 
p.  145-152.)  The  author's  name  does  not  appear  in  the  book;  but 
Le  Long  says  that  Juan  Perez  states,  in  the  prologue  to  his  version  of 
the  Psalms,  that  he  had  published  a  version  of  the  New  Testament  in 
the  preceding  year.  This  prologue  was  not  in  the  copy  examined  by 
Pellicer.  Cypriano  de  Valera  says,  "  El  doctor  Juan  Perez,  de  pia 
memoria,  ano  de  1556,  imprimioel  Testamento  Nuevo."  (Exhorta- 
cion  prefixed  to  his  Spanish  Bible.  Conf.  Abbate  D.  Giov.  Andres 
deir  Origine  d'ogni  Lctteratura,  tom.  xix.  p.  238.) 

§  Los  Psalmos  de  David,  con  sus  sumarios,  en  que  se  declara  con 
brcvedad  lo  contenido  en  cada  Psalmo,  agora  nueva  y  fielmente 
traduzidos  en  romance  Castellano,  por  el  doctor  Juan  Perez,  conforme 
a  la  verdad  de  la  Lrngua  Sancta.  En  Venecia,  en  casa  de  Pedro 
Daniel,  m.d.lvii."  The  w^ork  is  dedicated,  "A  Dona  INlaria  de  Aus- 
tria, Rey  nadc  Ilungria  y  de  Boheinia."  A  Spanish  translation  of 
the  Psalter,  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon,  and  the  Book  of  Job,  had  been 
printed  at  Lyons  in  1550.     (Kiederer,  Nachrichtcn,  tom.  ii.  p.  146.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  153 

the  same  time.*  They  were  all  printed  at  Venice. 
Besides  these,  he  published  in  Spanish  several  of  the 
works  of  his  countryman  Juan  Valdez.t  Being  called 
from  Geneva,  and  having  officiated  as  a  preacher  at 
Blois,  and  as  chaplain  to  Renee,  duchess  of  Ferrara,  in 
the  Castle  of  Montargis,  he  died  of  the  stone  at  Paris, 
after  he  had  bequeathed  all  his  fortune  to  the  printing 
of  the  Bible  in  his  native  tongue.  J  The  task  which 
he  left  unfinished  was  continued  by  Cassiodoro  de 
Reyna,  who,  after  ten  years'  labour  produced  a  trans- 
lation of  the  whole  Bible,  which  was  printed  in  1569 
at  Basle §.  It  was  revised  and  corrected  by  Cypriano 
de  Valera,  who  published  the  New  Testament  in  1596 
at  London,  and  both  Testaments  in  1602  at  Amster- 
dam. II  It  is  no  slight  proof  of  the  zeal  with  which  the 
Spanish  Protestants  sought  to  disseminate  the  Scrip- 
tures among  their  countrymen,  that  Juan  Lizzarago 
published,  in  1571,  a  translation  of  the  New  Testament 
into  Basque,  or  the  language  of  Biscay,  which  differs 
widely  from  the  other  dialects  spoken  in  the  Peninsu- 
la.H  The  versions  of  the  three  writers  last  mentioned 
did  not  appear  until  the  Reformation  was  suppressed 

^  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nova,  i.  757.  Llorente,  ii.  280.  The  last- 
named  author,  by  mistake,  ascribes  to  Perez  a  translation  of  the 
Bible. 

+  See  above,  p.  113;  and  Pellicer,  Ensayo,  p.  120. 

t  Bezae  Icones,  sig.  Ii.  iij. 

§  Miscellanea  Groningana,  torn.  iii.  p.  98-100.  Rodriguez  de  Cas- 
tro, torn.  i.  p.  464-468. 

II  Rodriguez  de  Castro,  i.  468-470.  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nova, 
torn.  i.  p,  234,  235.  In  1602,  the  same  year  in  which  De  Valera's 
Bible  was  printed  at  Amsterdam,  another  edition  of  De  Reyna's  was 
printed  at  Frankfort,  in  4to,  (Riederer,  Nachrichten,  tom.  iv.  p. 
265-270.) 

IT  The  Basque  New  Testament  was  printed  at  Rochelle,  and  dedi- 
cated to  Joan  d' Albret,  queen  of  Navarre.  (Larramendi,  Diccionario 
Trilingue  del  Castellano,  Bascuence  y  Latin,  prologo,  sect.  20.  An- 
dres dell  'Origine  d'ogni  Letteratura,  tom.  xix.  p.  239.) 

It  would  be  improper  to  pass  over  another  version,  as  it  bears  the 
name  of  Enzinas,  so  honourably  connected  with  the  translation  of 
the  Scriptures.  In  1708,  there  was  printed  at  Amsterdam,  a  Spanish 
version  of  the  New  Testament,  "  corrcgido  y  revisto,  por  D.  Sebas- 
tian de  la  Enzina,  ministro  de  la  Yglesia  Anglicano  y  Prcdicador  de 
la  illustre  congregacion  dc  los  honorablessenores  tratantcs  en  Espana.' 
This  translation  is  the  same  with  that  of  Valera,  except  that  the  con 

11 


154  HISTORY    OF    THE 

in  Spain;  but  they  were  of  great  utility  to  many 
individuals,  and  the  reprinting  of  De  Valera's  trans- 
lation at  a  recent  period  was  the  means  of  provo- 
king the  Spanish  clergy  to  make  the  dangerous  ex- 
periment of  translating  the  Scriptures  into  their  na- 
tive tongue.* 

All  these  versions  were  accompanied  with  vindica- 
tions of  the  practice  of  translating  the  Scriptures  into 
vernacular  languages,  and  the  right  of  the  people  to 
read  them.  This  formed  one  of  the  points  most  warm- 
ly contested  between  the  Romanists  and  reformers. 
The  Spanish  divines  distinguished  themselves  by  their 
intemperate  support  of  the  illiberal  side  of  the  ques- 
tion; and  the  determination  of  Alfonso  de  Castro, 
"that  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  the  verna- 
cular tongues,  with  the  reading  of  them  by  the  vul- 
gar, is  the  true  fountain  of  all  heresies,"  continued 
long  to  be  the  standard  of  orthodoxy  in  Spaui.t  There 
was,  however,  one  honourable  exception.  Frederico 
Furio,:]:  a  learned  native  of  Valencia,  defended  the 
cause  of  biblical  translation  intrepidly  and  ably,  first, 
in  an  academical  dispute  with  John  de  Bononima, 
rector  of  the  university  of  Louvain,  and  afterwards 
from  the  press. §     This  raised  against  him  a  host  of 

tents  of  chapters  are  not  inserted,  and  the  marginal  notes  arc  either 
omitted  or  put  at  the  foot  of  the  page.  (Pellicer,  Ensayo,  p.  156. 
Rodriguez  de  Castro,  i.  499-501, 

*  Dr.  Alexander  Geddes's  Prospectus,  p.  109.  Preface  by  Don 
Felix  Torres  Amat,  bishop  elect  of  Barcelona,  to  his  Spanish  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament,  in  1823.  Scio's  Bible  consisted  of  no 
fewer  than  nineteen  volumes  8vo.  Of  Amat's  New  Testament,  in  2 
vols.  4to,  two  thousand  copies  were  printed  in  Latin  and  Castilian, 
and  only  five  hundred  in  Castilian  alone. 

t  Gerdcsii  Hist.  Reform,  tom.  iii.  p.  169,  170.  So  late  as  1747, 
D.  Francisco  Perez  del  Prado,  the  inquisitor  general,  lamented,  "  that 
some  men  carried  their  audacity  to  the  execrable  extreme  of  asking 
permission  to  read  the  sacred  Scriptures  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  not 
afraid  of  finding  in  them  the  most  deadly  poison."     (Llorente,  i.  481.) 

t  lie  is  commonly  called  Frcdericus  Furius  Caeriolanus,  that  is, 
of  Serial,  the  vulgar  name  of  Valencia. 

(j  The  title  of  his  work  is  "  Bononia;  sive  de  Libris  Sacris  in  ver- 
naculam  linguam  con  vertcndis  Libri  duo."  Basiletc,  a.  1556.  He 
has  commemorated  the  opposition  which  he  met  with,  in  some  ele- 
gant Latin  verses  addressed  to  cardinal  Mcndoza.  (Schelhorn,  Amoc- 
nit.  Litcrarioe,  tom.  viii.  p.  485,  486.)     Furio  also  wrote  encomiastic 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  155 

enemieSj  and  his  book  was  strictly  prohibited;*  but  he 
was  protected  by  Charles  V.,  and  what  is  singular, 
continued  during  life  about  the  person  of  Philip  II., 
that  most  determined  patron  of  ignorance  and  the  In- 
quisition.! 

The  versions  of  the  Scriptures  by  which  the  Refor- 
mation was  promoted  in  Spain,  were  those  of  Enzi- 
nas  and  Perez.  In  spite  of  the  suppression  of  the  for- 
mer in  the  Loav  Countries,  copies  of  it  were  conveyed 
to  the  Peninsula.  Accordingly  pope  Julius  III.  states 
in  a  bill  addressed  to  the  Inquisitors  in  1550,  that  he 
was  informed  that  there  were  in  the  possession  of 
booksellers  and  private  persons  a  great  number  of  he- 
retical books,  including  Spanish  Bibles,  marked  in  the 
catalogue  of  prohibited  books  which  the  university  of 
Louvain,  at  the  desire  of  the  emperor,  had  drawn  up 
in  the  preceding  year.  And  at  a  period  somewhat 
later,  Philip,  who  governed  Spain  during  the  absence 
of  his  father,  ordered  an  examination  of  certain  Bibles 
introduced  into  the  kingdom  but  not  mentioned  in  the 
late  index;  and  the  council  of  the  Supreme,  having 
pronounced  them  dangerous,  gave  instructions  to  the 
provincial  inquisitors  to  seize  all  the  copies,  and  pro- 
ceed with  the  utmost  rigour  against  those  who  should 
retain  them,  without  excepting  members  of  universi- 
ties, colleges  or  monasteries.:}: 

At  the  same  time  the  strictest  precautions  were 
adopted  to  prevent  the  importation  of  such  books  by 
placing  officers  at  all  the  sea-ports  and  land-passes, 
with  authority  to  search  every  package,  and  the  per- 
son of  every  traveller  that  should  enter  the  kingdom. 
It  might  be  supposed  that  these  measures  would  have 
reared  an  insuperable  barrier  to  the  progress  of  illu- 
mination in  Spain.  But  the  thirst  for  knowledge, 
when  once  excited,  is  irresistible ;  and  tyranny,  when 
it  goes  beyond  a  certain  point,  inspires  its  victims  at 
once  with  daring  and  ingenuity.   The  books  providecj 

verses  on  Castalio's  version  of  the  Bible.     (Colomesii  Italia  et  Hispa- 
nia  Orientalis,  p.  102.) 

*  Index  Libr.  Prohib.  a.  1559.  lit.  F. 

t  Thuani  Hist.  lib.  civ.  cap.  7. 

X  Llorente,  i.  464,  465. 


156  HISTORY    OP    THE 

by  the  Spanish  refugees  remained  for  some  time  lock- 
ed up  in  Geneva,  none  choosing  to  engage  in  the 
hazardous  and  almost  desperate  attempt  to  convey 
themj  across  the  Pyrenees.  But  at  last  an  humble 
individual  had  the  courage  to  undertake,  and  the  ad- 
dress to  execute  the  task.  This  was  Julian  Hernan- 
dez, a  native  of  Villaverda  m  the  district  of  Campos, 
who  on  account  of  his  small  stature  was  commonly 
called  Julian  the  Little.  Having  imbibed  the  reform- 
ed doctrine  in  Germany,  he  had  come  to  Geneva  and 
entered  into  the  service  of  Juan  Perez  as  amanuensis 
and  corrector  of  the  press.*  Two  large  casks,  filled 
with  translations  of  the  Scriptures  and  other  Protestant 
books  in  Spanish,  were  in  1557  committed  to  his  trust, 
which  he  undertook  to  convey  by  land ;  and  having 
eluded  the  vigilant  eyes  of  the  inquisitorial  familiars, 
he  lodged  his  precious  charge  safely  in  the  house  of 
one  of  the  chief  Protestants  of  Seville,  by  whom  the 
contents  were  quickly  dispersed  among  his  friends  in 
different  parts  of  the  country.t 


CHAPTER  VI. 

PROGRESS    OF    THE   REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN. 

The  circumstances  attending  the  condemnation  of 
Egidius  inflicted  a  severe  shock  on  the  infant  church 
of  Seville.  While  the  enemies  of  the  truth  triumphed 
in  his  fall,  its  friends  felt  "  as  when  a  standard-bearer 
fainteth.^'  His  release  from  imprisonment,  and  the 
proofs  which  he  gave  of  unabated  attaclnnent  to  the 
doctrine  which  he  had  formerly  taught,  were  conso- 
latory to  them;  but  the  obstinacy  with  which  he  con- 
tinued to  the  last  to  upbraid  himself  for  his  imbecility, 

»  Montanus,  p.  217.  Bczod  Icones,  sig.  li.  iij.  b.  Histoire  des 
Martyrs,  p.  4i)7.  Llorente  represents  Hernandez  as  having  under- 
taken a  journey  from  Spain  to  Geneva  with  the  view  of  bringing 
home  tlie  contraband  books,     (ii.  282.) 

t  Montanus,  et  liistoire  des  Martyrs,  ut  Eupra. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  157 

together  with  the  restraints  under  which  he  was  laid, 
threw  a  melancholy  air  over  his  instructions,  which 
had  a  tendency  to  discourage  those  who  needed  to  be 
animated  by  the  countenance  and  advice  of  a  person 
of  unbroken  courage  and  high  reputation.  Provi- 
dence furnished  them  with  such  a  head,  a  little  before 
the  death  of  Egidius,  by  the  return  of  the  individual 
who  had  been  his  associate  in  his  early  labours,  and 
who  was  unquestionably  the  greatest  ornament  of  the 
reformed  cause  in  Spain. 

Constantino  Ponce  de  la  Fuente  was  a  native  of 
San  Clemente  de  la  Mancha,  in  the  diocese  of  Cuen- 
§a.*  Possessing  a  good  taste,  and  a  love  of  genuine 
knowledge,  he  evinced  an  early  disgust  for  the  bar- 
barous pedantry  of  the  schools,  and  attachment  to  such 
of  his  countrymen  as  sought  to  revive  the  study  of 
polite  letters.  Being  intended  for  the  church,  he  made 
himself  master  of  Greek  and  Hebrew,  to  qualify  him 
for  interpreting  the  Scriptures.  At  the  same  time  he 
spoke  and  wrote  his  native  language  with  uncommon 
purity  and  elegance.  Like  Erasmus,  with  whose  writ- 
ings he  was  first  captivated,  he  was  distinguished  for 
his  lively  wit,  which  he  took  pleasure  in  indulging 
at  the  expense  of  foolish  preachers  and  hypocritical 
monks.  But  he  was  endowed  with  greater  firmness 
and  decision  of  character  than  the  philosopher  of  Rot- 
terdam. During  his  attendance  at  the  university,  his 
youthful  spirit  had  betrayed  him  into  irregularities,  of 
which  his  enemies  afterwards  took  an  ungenerous  ad- 
vantage ;  but  these  were  succeeded  by  the  utmost  de- 
corum and  correctness  of  manners,  though  he  always 
retained  his  gay  temper,  and  could  never  deny  him- 
self his  jest.  One  of  his  contemporaries  has  remarked, 
"  that  he  never  knew  any  man  who  loved  or  hated 
Constantino  moderately;"  a  treatment  which  is  ex- 
perienced by  every  person  who  possesses  superior 
talents  and  poignancy  of  wit  combined  with  gene- 
rosity and  benevolence.  His  knowledge  of  mankind 
made  him  scrupulous  in  forming  intimate  friendships, 
but  he  treated  all  his  acquaintance  with  a  cordial  and 

*  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nov.  torn.  i.  p.  256. 


15S  HISTORY    OF    THE 

easy  familiarity.  Notwithstanding  the  opportunities 
he  had  of  enriching  himself,  he  was  so  exempt  from 
avarice  that  his  library,  which  he  valued  above  all  his 
property,  was  never  large.  His  eloquence  caused  his 
services  in  the  pulpit  to  be  much  sought  after ;  but  he 
was  free  from  vanity,  the  besetting  sin  of  orators,  and 
scorned  to  prostitute  his  talents  at  the  shrine  of  popu- 
larity. He  declined  the  situation  of  preacher  in  the 
cathedral  of  Cuenga,  which  was  offered  him  by  the 
unanimous  vote  of  the  chapter.  When  the  more  hon- 
ourable and  lucrative  office  of  preacher  to  the  metro- 
politan church  of  Toledo  was  afterwards  put  in  his 
offer,  after  thanking  the  chapter  for  their  good  opinion 
of  him  he  decUned  it,  alleging  as  a  reason,  "  that  he 
would  not  disturb  the  bones  of  their  ancestors;''  al- 
luding to  a  dispute  between  them  and  the  archbishop 
Siliceo,  who  had  insisted  that  his  clergy  should  prove 
the  purity  of  their  descent.  Whether  it  was  predilec- 
lection  for  the  reformed  opinions  that  induced  him  at 
first  to  fix  his  residence  at  Seville,  is  uncertain;  but 
we  have  seen  that  he  co-operated  with  Egidius  in  his 
plans  for  disseminating  scriptural  knowledge.  The 
emperor  having  heard  him  preach  during  a  visit  to 
that  city,  was  so  much  pleased  with  the  sermon,  that 
he  immediately  named  him  one  of  his  chaplains,  to 
which  he  added  the  office  of  almoner;  and  he  soon 
after  appointed  him  to  accompany  his  son  Philip  to 
Flanders,  "  to  let  the  Flemings  see  that  Spain  was  not 
destitute  of  polite  scholars  and  orators."*  Constan- 
tine  made  it  a  point  of  duty  to  obey  the  orders  of  his 
sovereign,  and  reluctantly  quitted  his  residence  in  Se- 
ville, for  which  he  had  hitherto  rejected  the  most 
tempting  offers.  His  journey  gave  him  the  opportu- 
nity of  becoming  personally  acquainted  with  some  of 
the  reformers.  Among  these  was  James  Schopper,  a 
learned  man  of  Biberach  in  Suabia,  by  whose  conver- 
sation his  views  of  evangelical  doctrine  were  greatly 
enlarged  and  confirmed.!    In  1555  he  returned  to  Se- 

*  Geddcs's  Misccll.  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  556.     Montanus,  p,  269,  282. 
t  Jacobi  Schopperi  Oratio  dc  vitaet  obitu  Parentis,  p.  26— 28:  Ger- 
desii  Serin.  Antiq.  torn.  iv.  p.  648. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  159 

ville,  and  his  presence  imparted  a  new  impulse  to  the 
Protestant  cause  in  that  city.  A  benevolent  and  en- 
lightened individual  having  founded  a  professorship 
of  divinity  in  the  College  of  Doctrine,  Constantine  was 
appointed  to  the  chair;  and  by  means  of  the  lectures 
which  he  read  on  the  Scriptures,  together  with  the 
instructions  of  Fernando  de  St.  Juan,  provost  of  the 
institution,  the  minds  of  many  of  the  young  men  were 
opened  to  the  truth."*  On  the  first  Lent  after  his  re- 
turn to  Seville,  he  was  chosen  by  the  chapter  to  preach 
every  alternate  day  in  the  cathedral  church.  So  great 
was  his  popularity,  that  though  the  public  service  did 
not  begin  till  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  yet  when 
he  preached,  the  church  was  filled  by  four  and  even 
by  three  o'clock.  Being  newly  recovered  from  a  fever 
when  he  commenced  his  labours,  he  felt  so  weak  that 
it  was  necessary  for  him  repeatedly  to  pause  during 
the  sermon,  on  which  occasions  he  was  allowed  to 
recruit  his  strength  by  taking  a  draught  of  wine  in 
the  pulpit;  a  permission  which  had  never  been  grant- 
ed to  any  other  preacher.! 

While  Constantine  was  pursuing  this  career  of  hon- 
our and  usefulness,  he  involved  himself  in  difficulties 
by  coming  forward  as  a  candidate  for  the  place  of 
canon  magistral  in  the  cathedral  of  Seville.  There 
are  three  canonries  in  every  Episcopal  church  in  Spain, 
which  must  be  obtained  by  comparative  trials.  These 
are  chiefly  filled  by  fellows  belonging  to  the  six  Col- 
legios  Mayores,  who  form  a  kind  of  learned  aristo- 
cracy, which  has  long  possessed  great  influence  in  that 
country.  No  place  of  honour  or  emolument  in  the 
church  or  the  departments  of  law  is  left  unoccupied 
by  these  collegians.  Fellows  in  orders,  who  possess 
abilities,  are  kept  in  reserve  for  the  literary  competi- 
tions; such  as  cannot  appear  to  advantage  in  these 
trials,  are  provided  through  court-favour  to  stalls  in 
the  wealthier  cathedrals;  while  the  absolutely  dull 
and  ignorant  are  placed  in  the  tribunals  of  the  Inqui- 
sition, where,  passing  judgment  in  their  secret  halls, 

*  Montanns,  p.  283 ;  conf.  p.  214.  t  Montanus,  p.  279,  283. 


160  HISTORY    OF    THE 

they  may  not  by  their  bkinders  disgrace  the  college  to 
which  they  belonged.*  The  place  of  canon  magistral 
in  Seville  having  become  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Egidius,  the  chapter,  in  accordance  with  the  general 
wish  of  the  city,  fixed  their  eyes  upon  Constantine,  as 
the  person  most  fitted  by  his  talents  for  filling  that 
important  office.  Egidius  had  been  introduced  into 
it  without  engaging  in  the  literary  competition;  but, 
in  consequence  of  his  unpopularity  when  he  first  as- 
cended the  pulpit,  the  canons  had  entered  on  their 
records  a  resolution  that  the  usual  trials  should  take 
place  in  all  future  elections.  Constantine  had  uni- 
formly ridiculed  these  literary  jousts,  as  resembling 
the  exercises  of  schoolboys  and  the  tricks  of  jugglers. 
Finding  him  obstinate  in  refusing  to  enter  the  lists, 
the  chapter  were  inclined  to  dispense  with  their  reso- 
lution, when  Fernando  Valdes,  the  archbishop  of  Se- 
ville and  inquisitor  general,  who  had  conceived  a 
strong  dislike  to  Constantine  on  account  of  a  supposed 
injury  which  he  had  received  from  him  when  he  was 
preacher  to  the  emperor,  interposed  his  authority  to 
prevent  the  suspension  of  the  law.  A  day  was  ac- 
cordingly fixed  for  the  trial,  and  edicts  were  published 
in  all  the  principal  cities,  requiring  candidates  to  make 
their  appearance.  The  friends  of  Constantine  now 
pressed  him  to  lay  aside  his  scruples;  and  an  indi- 
vidual, who  had  great  influence  over  his  mind,  repre- 
sented so  strongly  the  services  which  he  would  be 
able  to  render  to  the  cause  of  truth  in  so  influential  a 
situation,  and  the  hurtful  effects  which  would  result 
from  its  being  occupied  by  some  noisy  and  ignorant 
declaimer,  that  he  consented  at  last  to  ofter  himself  as 
a  candidate.  The  knowledge  of  this  fact  prevented 
others  from  appearing,  with  the  exception  of  two  in- 
dividuals who  came  from  a  distant  part  of  the  coun- 
try. One  of  them  declined  the  contest  as  soon  as  he 
became  acquainted  with  the  circumstances;  but  the 
other,  a  canon  of  Malaga,  instigated  by  the  arch- 
bishop, who  wished  to  mortify  his  competitor,  descend- 
ed into  the  arena.    Despairing,  however,  of  being  able 

*  Doblada's  Letters  from  Spain,  p.  106,  107. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  161 

to  succeed  by  polemical  skill,  or  by  interest  with  the 
chapter,  he  had  recourse  to  personal  charges  and  in- 
sinuations, in  which  he  was  supported  by  all  those 
who  envied  the  fame  of  Constantino,  had  felt  the  sting 
of  his  satire,  or  hated  him  for  his  friendship  with 
Egidius.  He  was  accused  of  having  contracted  a 
marriage  before  he  entered  into  holy  orders;  it  was 
alleged  that  there  were  irregularities  in  his  ordination 
and  the  manner  in  which  he  obtained  his  degree  of 
doctor  of  divinity,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  fasten 
on  him  the  charge  of  heresy.  In  spite  of  these  accu- 
sations he  carried  his  election,  was  installed  in  his  new 
office,  and  commenced  his  duty  as  preacher  in  the 
cathedral  with  high  acceptance.  But  this  contest  ar- 
rayed a  party  against  him,  which  sought  in  every  way 
to  thwart  his  measures,  and  afterwards  found  an  op- 
portunity to  make  him  feel  the  weight  of  its  ven- 
geance.* 

Constantino,  while  he  instructed  the  people  of  Se- 
ville from  the  pulpit,  was  exerting  himself  to  diffuse 
religious  knowledge  through  the  nation  at  large  by 
means  of  the  press.  In  the  character  of  his  writings, 
we  have  one  of  the  clearest  indications  of  the  excel- 
lence of  his  heart.  They  were  of  that  kind  which  was 
adapted  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  his  countrymen,  and 
not  calculated  to  display  his  own  talents,  or  to  acquire 
for  himself  a  name  in  the  learned  world.  They  were 
composed  in  his  native  tongue,  and  in  a  style  level  to 
the  lowest  capacity.  Abstruse  speculations  and  rheto- 
rical ornaments,  in  which  he  was  qualified  both  by 
nature  and  education  to  excel,  were  rigidly  sacrificed 
to  the  one  object  of  being  understood  by  all,  and  use- 
ful to  all.  Among  his  works  were  a  Catechism,  whose 
highest  recommendation  is  its  artless  and  infantine 
simplicity;  a  small  treatise  on  the  doctrine  of  Chris- 
tianity, drawn  up  in  the  familiar  form  of  a  Dialogue 
between  a  master  and  his  pupil ;  an  Exposition  of  the 
first  Psalm  in  four  sermons,  which  show  that  his  pul- 
pit eloquence,  exempt  from  the  common  extremes, 
was  neither  degraded  by  vulgarity,  nor  rendered  dis- 

»  Montanus,  p.  284-287. 


162  HISTORY    OF    THE 

gusting  by  affectation  and  cftbrt  at  display;  and  the 
Confession  of  a  sinner,  in  which  the  doctrines  of  the 
gospel,  poured  from  a  contrite  and  humbled  spirit  as- 
sume the  form  of  the  most  edifying  and  devotional 
piety.*  His  Summary  of  Christian  Doctrine,  without 
being  deficient  in  simplicity,  is  more  calculated  to  in- 
terest persons  of  learning  and  advanced  knowledge. 
In  this  work  he  proposed  to  treat  first  of  the  articles 
of  faith ;  and  secondly,  of  good  works  and  the  sacra- 
ment. The  first  part  only  came  from  the  press  ;t  the 
second  being  kept  back  until  such  time  as  it  could  be 
printed  with  greater  safety,  a  period  which  never  ar- 
rived. It  was  not  the  author's  object  to  lay  down  or 
defend  the  Protestant  doctrines,  but  to  exhibit  from 
the  Scriptures,  and  without  intermeddUng  with  mod- 
ern disputes,  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel.  The  work 
was  translated  into  Italian,  and  has  been  highly  praised 
by  some  Roman  Catholic  writers.  J  But  it  was  viewed 
with  great  suspicion  by  the  ruling  clergy,  who  took 
occasion  from  it  to  circulate  reports  unfavourable  to 
the  author's  orthodoxy,  and  held  secret  consultations 
on  the  propriety  of  denouncing  him  to  the  Inquisition. 
They  complained  that  he  had  not  condemned  the  Lu- 
theran errors,  nor  vindicated  the  supremacy  of  the 
bishop  of  Rome ;  and  that,  if  at  any  time  he  men- 
tioned indulgences,  purgatory  and  human  merit,  in- 
stead of  extolling,  he  derogated  from  these  authorized 
doctrines  of  the  church,  by  warning  his  readers  not  to 
risk  their  salvation  on  them.  When  these  charges 
came  to  the  cars  of  Constantine,  he  contented  himself 
with  saying,  that  these  topics  did  not  properly  belong 
to  the  first  part  of  his  treatise,  but  that  he  would  ex- 
plain his  views  respecting  them  in  his  second  volume, 
which  he  was  preparing  for  the  press.     This  reply, 

*  Montanus,  p.  294-297.  Histoire  dcs  Martyrs,  f.  502,  b.-506,  a. 
Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nova,  torn.  i.  p.  256. 

t  It  was  printed  at  Antwerp,  witiiout  date,  under  tlie  title  of  "Su- 
ma  dc  Doctrina  Ciiristiana;"  and  appended  to  it  was  *' El  Sermon  do 
Christo  neustro  Rcdcniptor  on  el  monte,  traducido  por  el  niisnio  autor, 
con  declaraciones." 

t  Ulloa,  Vita  di  (^arlo  V.  p.  237.  Joan.  Pineda,  Comment,  in  Fab. 
Justiniani  Indie.  Univ.  prcef.  cap.  xiii.  sect.  6. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  163 

backed  by  the  popularity  of  which  he  was  in  posses- 
sion, silenced  his  adversaries  for  that  time.* 

Previously  to  the  period  of  which  we  have  been 
speaking,  an  occurrence  took  place  which  had  nearly 
proved  fatal  to  the  disciples  of  the  reformed  faith  in 
Seville.  Francisco  Zafra,  a  doctor  of  laws,  and  vicar 
of  the  parish  church  of  San  Vincente,  had  long  cher- 
ished a  secret  predilection  for  the  Lutheran  senti- 
ments. Being  a  man  of  learning,  he  was  frequently 
called,  in  the  character  of  qualificatory  to  pronounce 
judgment  on  the  articles  laid  to  the  charge  of  persons 
denounced  to  the  Holy  Office,  and  had  been  instru- 
mental in  saving  the  lives  of  many  individuals,  who 
otherwise  would  have  been  condemned  as  heretics.t 
He  had  received  into  his  house  Maria  Gomez,  a 
widow,  who  was  a  zealous  and  constant  attendant  on 
the  private  meetings  of  the  Protestants,  and  conse- 
quently well  acquainted  with  all  the  persons  of  that 
persuasion  in  the  city.  In  the  year  1555  she  became 
deranged  in  her  intellect,  and  having  conceived,  as  is 
not  unusual  with  persons  in  that  unhappy  state  of 
mind,  a  violent  antipathy  to  her  former  friends,  she 
talked  of  nothing  but  vengeance  on  heretics.  It  was 
found  necessary  to  lay  her  under  an  easy  restraint; 
but,  escaping  from  her  domestic  confinement,  she 
went  straight  to  the  castle  of  Triana,  in  which  the  in- 
quisitors held  their  sittings,  and,  having  obtained  an 
audience,  told  them  that  the  city  was  full  of  Luther- 
ans, while  they,  whose  duty  it  was  to  guard  against 
the  entrance  and  spread  of  this  plague,  were  slumber- 
ing at  their  post.  She  ran  over  the  names  of  those 
whom  she  accused,  amounting  to  the  number  of  more 
than  three  hundred.  The  inquisitors  had  no  appre- 
hension of  the  extent  to  which  the  reformed  doctrines 
had  been  embraced  in  Seville,  and  could  not  but  per- 
ceive marks  of  derangement  in  the  appearance  and 
incoherent  talk  of  the  informer;  but,  acting  according 

*  Montanus,  p.  294,  295. 

t  Llorente  (ii.  255-7.)  refers  to  De  Monies  in  support  of  this  fact. 
I  do  not  find  it  stated  by  that  writer,  whom  he  probably  confounded 
with  some  other  authority. 


164  HISTORY    OF    THE 

to  the  maxim  of  their  tribmial,  that  no  accusation  is 
to  be  disregarded,  they  resolved  to  make  inquiry,  and 
ordered  the  instant  attendance  of  Zafra.  Had  he 
yielded  to  the  sudden  impressions  of  fear,  and  at- 
tempted to  make  his  escape,  the  consequences  would 
have  been  fatal  to  himself  and  his  religious  connex 
ions.  Instead  of  this,  he,  with  great  presence  ot 
mind,  repaired  on  the  first  notice  to  the  Holy  Office, 
treated  the  accusation  with  indifference,  stated  the 
symptoms  of  the  woman's  distemper,  with  the  reason 
which  induced  him  to  confine  her,  and  referred  to 
the  members  of  his  family  and  the  neighbours  for  the 
truth  of  the  facts.  His  statement,  together  with  the 
character  which  he  bore,  succeeded  in  removing  the 
suspicions  of  the  inquisitors,  who  were  persuaded  that 
Maria  laboured  under  a  confirmed  lunacy,  and  that 
her  representations  had  no  other  foundation  than  the 
visionary  workings  of  a  disordered  brain.  Accord- 
ingly they  requested  Zafra  to  take  the  unfortunate 
woman  along  with  him,  and  to  keep  her  under  a 
stricter  confinement  than  that  from  which  she  had  es- 
caped. Thus  did  this  dark  cloud  pass  away,  by  the 
kindness  of  Providence,  which  watched  over  a  tender 
flock,  not  yet  sufficiently  prepared  for  encountering 
the  storm  of  persecution.* 

In  the  mean  time  the  Protestant  church  in  Seville 
was  regularly  organized,  and  placed  under  the  pastoral 
inspection  of  Christobal  Losada,  a  doctor  of  medicine. 
He  had  paid  his  addresses  to  the  daughter  of  a  re- 
spectable member  of  that  society,  and  was  rejected  on 
a  religious  ground;  but  having  afterwards  become 
acquainted  with  Egidius,  he  embraced  the  reformed 
opinions,  and  recommended  himself  so  strongly  to 
those  of  the  same  faith  by  his  knowledge  of  the 
Scriptures,  and   other   gifts,  that   they  unanimously 

*  Montanus,  p.  50-53.  Llorente  (ii.  267.)  is  of  opinion  that  the 
inquisitors  did  not  entirely  disercdit  the  information  of  Maria  Go- 
mez,  and  that  it  led  to  the  subsequent  discovery  and  apprehension  of 
the  Protestants  in  Seville.  When  afterwards  aroused  by  new  infor- 
mations, the  names  mentioned  by  her  mijG;ht  assist  their  inquiries; 
but  it  is  not  very  probable  that  they  would  have  remained  inactive 
during  two  years,  if  tiicy  had  credited  iicr  testimony. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  165 

chose  him  as  their  pastor.  His  future  conduct  did 
not  disgrace  their  choice.*  He  was  assisted  by  a  friar 
named  Cassiodoro,  whose  ministry  was  uncommonly 
successful.t  The  church  met  ordinarily  in  the  house 
of  Isabella  de  Baena,  a  lady  not  less  distinguished  for 
her  piety  than  for  her  rank  and  opulence. |  Among 
the  nobility  who  attached  themselves  to  it,  the  two 
most  distinguished  were  Don  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  and 
Domingo  de  Guzman.  The  former  was  a  younger 
son  of  Don  Rodrigo,  count  de  Baylen,  cousin  german 
of  the  duke  D'Arcos,  and  allied  to  the  principal  gran- 
dees of  Spain.  So  unbounded  was  this  nobleman  in 
charity  to  the  poor,  that,  by  distributing  to  their  ne- 
cessities, he  encumbered  his  patrimonial  estate,  and 
reduced  himself  to  those  straits  in  which  others  of  his 
rank  involve  themselves  by  prodigality  and  dissipa- 
tion. He  was  equally  unsparing  in  his  personal  ex- 
ertions to  promote  the  reformed  cause. §  Domingo 
de  Guzman  was  a  son  of  the  duke  de  Medina  Sidonia, 
and  being  destined  for  the  church,  had  entered  the  or- 
der of  St.  Dominic.  His  extensive  library  contained 
the  principal  Lutheran  publications,  which  he  lent 
and  recommended  with  uncommon  industry.  || 

Most  of  the  religious  institutions  in  Seville  and 
the  neighbourhood  were  leavened  with  the  new  doc- 
trines. The  preacher  of  the  Dominican  monastery  of 
St.  Paul's  was  zealous  in  propagating  them.lT  They 
had  disciples  in  the  convent  of  St.  Elizabeth,  a  nun- 
nery established  according  to  the  rule  of  St.  Francis 
d'Assisa.**     But  they  made  the  greatest  progress  in 

*  Cypriano  de  Valera,  Dos  Tratados,  p.  249,  151.  Montanus,  p. 
231,  232. 

t  Llorente,  ii.  264,  270. 

i  Cypriano  de  Valera,  ut  supra,  p.  251.     Montanus,  p.  210,  211. 

§  Montanus,  p.  200,  201. 

II  Sepulveda  says  he  was  "of  the  illustrious  house  of  the  Guz- 
mans."  (De  Rebus  gestis  Caroli  V.  p.  541.)  Skinner,  in  his  addi- 
tions to  Montanus,  says,  "  He  was  bastarde  brother  to  the  duke  de 
Medina  Sidonia."  (A  Discovery  and  playne  Declaration  of  sundry 
subtill  Practises  of  the  Holy  Inquisition  of  Spayne,  Big.  D  d.  iiij.  b, 
2d  edit.  Lend.  1569,  4to.) 

IT  Ibid. 

**  Montanus,  p.  229. 


1G6  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  Hieronymite  convent  of  San  Isidro  del  Campo, 
situated  within  two  miles  of  Seville.  This  was  owing 
in  a  great  degree  to  a  person  whose  singular  charac- 
ter merits  examination. 

Garcia  de  Arias,  commonly  called  Doctor  Blanco, 
on  account  of  the  extreme  whiteness  of  his  hair,  pos- 
sessed an  acute  mind  and  extensive  information;  but 
he  was  undecided  and  vacillating  in  his  conduct,  part- 
ly from  timidity  and  partly  from  caution  and  excess 
of  refinement.     He  belonged  to  that  class  of  subtle 
politicians,  who,  without  being  destitute  of  conscience, 
are  wary  in  committing  themselves,  forfeit  the  good 
opinion  of  both  parties  by  failing  to  yield  a  consistent 
stipport  to  either,  and  trusting  to  their  address  and 
dexterity  to  extricate  themselves  from  difficulties,  are 
sometimes  caught  in  the  toils  of  their  own  intricate 
management.     There  is  no  reason  to  question  the 
sincerity  of  his  attachment  to  the  reformed  tenets,  but 
his  adoption  of  them  Vv' as  known  only  to  the  leaders 
of  the  Sevillian  church,  with  whom  he  was  secretly  in 
correspondence.     By  the  ruling  clergy,  he  was  re- 
garded not  only  as  strictly  orthodox,  but  as  the  ablest 
champion  of  their  cause,  and  accordingly  was  con- 
sulted by  them  on  every  important  question  relative 
to  the   established   faith.     An   anecdote   which   has 
been  preserved  is  strikingly  illustrative  of  his  charac- 
ter and  mode  of  acthig.     Gregorio  Ruiz,  in  a  sermon 
preached  by  him  in  the  cathedral  of  Seville,  employ- 
ed expressions  favourable  to  the  Protestant  doctrine 
concerning  justification  and  the  merit  of  Christ's  death, 
in  consequence  of  which  he  was  denounced  to  the  In- 
quisition, and  had  a  day  fixed  for  answering  the 
charges  brought  against  him.    In  the  prospect  of  this, 
he  took  the  advice  of  Arias,  with  whose  real  senti- 
ments he  was  perfectly  acquahited,  and  to  whom  he 
confidentially  connnunicated  the  fine  of  defence  which 
he  meant  to  adopt.     But  on  the  day  of  his  appear- 
ance, and  after  he  had  pleaded  for  himself,  what  was 
his  surprise  to  find  the  man  whom  he  had  trusted 
rise,  at   the   request   of  the   inquisitors,   and   in   an 
elaborate  speech  refute  all  the  arguments  which  he 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  167 

had  produced !  When  his  friends  remonstrated  with 
Arias  on  tlie  impropriety  of  his  conduct,  he  vin- 
dicated himself  hy  alleging  that  he  had  adopted 
the  course  which  was  safest  for  Ruiz  and  them; 
but,  galled  by  the  censures  which  they  pronounced 
on  the  duplicity  and  baseness  with  which  he  had 
acted,  he  began  to  threaten  that  he  would  inform 
against  them  to  the  Holy  Ofiice.  "And  if  we  shall 
be  forced  to  descend  into  the  arena,"  said  Con- 
stantine  to  him,  "do  you  expect  to  be  permitted  to 
sit  among  the  spectators?" 

Yet  this  was  the  man  who  was  made  the  instru- 
ment of  conveying  the  light  of  divine  truth  into  the 
convent  of  San  Isidro,  when  it  was  immersed  in  the 
most  profound  ignorance  and  superstition.     Without 
laying  aside  his  characteristic  caution,  he  taught  his 
brethren,  that  true  religion  was  something  very  dif- 
ferent from  what  it  was  vulgarly  supposed  to  be ;  that 
it  did  not  consist  in  chanting  matins  and  vespers,  or 
performing  any  of  those  acts  of  bodily  service,  in 
which  their  time  was  consumed;  and  that  if  they  ex- 
pected to  obtain  the  approbation  of  God,  it  behoved 
them  to  have  recourse  to  the  Scriptures  to  know  his 
mind.     By  inculcating  these  things  in  his  sermons 
and  in  private  conversation,  he  produced  in  the  breasts 
of  the  monks  a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  cir- 
cular and  monotonous  devotions  of  the  cloister,  and 
a  spirit  of  inquiry  after  a  purer  and  more  edifying 
piety.     But  from  versatility,  or  with  the  view  of  pro- 
viding for  his  future  safety,  he  all  at  once  altered  his 
plans,  and  began  to  recommend,  by  doctrine  and  ex- 
ample, austerities  and  bodily  mortifications  more  rigid 
than  those  which  were  enjoined  by  the  monastic  rules 
of  his  order.     During  Lent  he  urged  his  brethren  to 
remove  every  article  of  furniture  from  their  cells,  to 
lie  on  the  bare  earth,  or  sleep  standing,  and  to  wear 
shirts  of  haircloth,  with  iron  girdles,  next  their  bodies. 
The  monastery  was  for  a  time  thrown  into  confusion, 
and  some  individuals  were  reduced  to  a  state  of  mind 
bordering  on  distraction.     But  this  attempt  to  revive 


16S  HISTORY    OF    THE 

superstition  produced  a  reaction  which  led  to  the  hap- 
piest consequences.  Suspecting  the  judgment  or  the 
honesty  of  the  individual  to  whom  they  had  hitherto 
looked  up  as  an  oracle,  some  of  the  more  intelligent 
resolved  to  take  the  advice  of  Egidius  and  his  friends 
in  Seville;  and,  having  received  instructions  from 
them,  began  to  teach  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel  to 
their  brethren  in  a  plain  and  vmdisguised  manner;  so 
that,  within  a  few  years,  the  whole  convent  was  lea- 
vened with  the  new  opinions."^  The  person  who  had 
the  greatest  influence  in  effecting  this  change  was 
Cassiodoro  de  Reyna,  afterwards  celebrated  as  the 
translator  of  the  Bible  into  the  language  of  his  coun- 
try.! 

A  more  decided  change  on  the  internal  state  of  this 
monastery  took  place  in  the  course  of  the  year  1557. 
An  ample  supply  of  copies  of  the  Scriptures  and  Pro- 
testant books,  in  the  Spanish  language,  having  been 
received,  they  were  read  with  avidity  by  the  monks, 
and  contributed  at  once  to  confirm  those  who  had 
been  enlightened,  and  to  extricate  others  from  the 
prejudices  by  which  they  were  inthralled.     In  conse- 
quence of  this,  the  prior  and  other  official  persons,  in 
concurrence  with  the  fraternity,  agreed  to  reform  their 
religious  institute.     Their  hours  of  prayer,  as  they 
were  called,  which  had  been  spent  in  solemn  mum- 
meries, were  appointed  for  hearing  prelections  on  the 
Scriptures;   prayers  for  the  dead  were   omitted,  or 
converted  into   lessons  for  the   living;  papal  indul- 
gences and  pardons,  which  had  formed  a  lucrative 
and  engrossing  traffic,  were  entirely  abolished ;  ima- 
ges were  allowed  to  remain,  without  receiving  hom- 
age ;  habitual  temperance  was  substituted  hi  the  room 
of  superstitious  fasting;  and  novices  were  instructed 
in  the  principles  of  true  piety,  instead  of  being  initi- 
ated into  the  idle  and  debasing  habits  of  monachism. 
Nothing  remained  of  the  old  system  but  the  monastic 

*  Montanus,  p.  237-247. 

t  Llorente  (ii.  262.)  merely  calls  him  "Fr.  Cassiodore,"  but  I  liave 
no  doubt  tliat  he  was  the  individual  mentioned  in  the  text. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  169 

garb  and  the  external  ceremony  of  the  mass,  which 
they  could  not  lay  aside,  without  exposing  themselves 
to  imminent  and  inevitable  danger.* 

The  good  effects  of  this  change  were  felt  without 
the  monastery  of  San  Isidro  del  Campo.  By  their 
conversation,  and  by  the  circulation  of  books,  these 
zealous  monks  diffused  the  knowledge  of  the  truth 
through  the  adjacent  country,  and  imparted  it  to 
many  individuals  who  resided  in  towns  at  a  consid- 
erable distance  from  Seville.!  In  particular,  their  ex- 
ertions were  successful  in  religious  houses  of  the  Hi- 
eronymite  order;  and  the  prior  and  many  of  the  bro- 
therhood of  the  Valle  de  Ecija,  situated  on  the  banks 
of  the  Xenil,  were  among  the  converts  to  the  reform- 
ed faith.:}:  Individuals  of  the  highest  reputation  be- 
longing to  that  order  incurred  the  suspicion  of  here- 
sy. Juan  de  Regla,  prior  of  Santa  Fe,  and  provincial 
of  the  Hieronymites  in  Spain,  was  a  divine  greatly 
celebrated  for  his  talents  and  learning,  and  had  assist- 
ed at  the  council  of  Trent  during  its  second  convoca- 
tion. Being  denounced  to  the  Inquisition  of  vSaragos- 
sa,  he  was  condemned  to  penance,  and  the  abjuration 
of  eighteen  propositions  savouring  of  Lutheranism. 
After  his  recantation,  he  verified  the  maxim  respect- 
ing apostates,  by  his  bitter  persecution  of  those  who 
were  suspected  of  holding  the  new  opinions,  and  was 
advanced  to  the  office  of  confessor,  first  to  Charles  V. 
and  afterwards  to  Philip  II. §  Francisco  de  Villalba, 
a  Hieronymite  monk  of  Montamarta,  sat  in  the  coun- 
cil of  Trent  along  with  Regla,  and  was  preacher  to 
Charles  and  Philip.  He  waited  on  the  former  in  his 
last  moments,  and  pronounced  his  funeral  oration 
with  such  appalling  eloquence,  that  several  of  his 
hearers  declared  that  he  made  their  hair  stand  erect. 
After  the  emperor's  death,  a  process  was  commenced 
against  Villalba  before  the  Inquisition  of  Toledo,  in 
which  he  was  accused  of  having  taught  certain  Lu- 
theran errors.     At  the  same   time  an  attempt  was 

*  Montanus,  p.  247,  248.  t  Ibid.  p.  249. 

t  Cypriano  de  Valera,  Dos  Tratados,  p.  248. 
§  Llorente,  ii.  160,  161;  iii.  84,  85. 

12 


170  HISTORY    OF    THE 

made,  in  a  chapter  of  the  monks  of  St.  Jerome,  to  at- 
taint his  blood,  by  showing  that  he  was  of  Jewish  ex- 
traction. Tliis  charge  was  refuted.  But  it  was  not 
so  easy  to  put  a  stop  to  his  trial  before  the  inquisi- 
tors; all  that  he  could  obtain,  through  the  intervention 
of  the  court,  was,  that  his  incarceration  should  be  de- 
layed until  additional  witnesses  should  be  found;  and 
while  matters  remained  in  this  state,  he  was  released 
from  persecution,  by  the  hand  of  death.* 

While  the  reformed  doctrine  was  advancing  in  Se- 
ville and  its  vicinity,  it  was  not  stationary  at  Valla- 
dolid.  The  Protestants  in  this  chy  had  for  their  first 
pastor  Domingo  de  Roxas,  a  young  man  of  good  tal- 
ents, and  allied  to  some  of  the  principal  grandees  of 
Spain.  His  father  was  Don  Juan,  first  marquis  de 
Poza;  his  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  conde  de 
Salinas,  and  descended  from  the  family  of  the  marquis 
de  la  Mota.  Being  destined  for  the  church,  Domingo 
de  Roxas  had  entered  into  the  order  of  Dominicans. 
He  was  educated  under  Bartolome  de  Carranza,  from 
whom  he  imbibed  opinions  more  liberal  than  those 
jixvhich  were  common  either  in  the  colleges  or  convents 
of  Spain.  But  the  disciple  did  not  confine  himself  to 
the  timid  course  pursued  by  the  master.  The  latter 
made  use  of  the  same  language  with  the  reformers 
respecting  justification,  and  some  other  articles  of  fiiith ; 
but  he  cautiously  accompanied  it  with  explications 
intended  to  secure  him  against  the  charge  of  hetero- 
doxy. The  former  was  bolder  in  his  speculations, 
and  less  reserved  in  avowing  them.  Notwithstanding 
the  w^arnings  which  he  received  from  Carranza  to  be 
diffident  of  his  own  judgment,  and  submissive  to  the 
decisions  of  the  church,  De  Roxas  repudiated  as  un- 
scriptural  the  doctrine  of  purgatory,  the  mass,  and 
other  articles  of  the  established  faith.  Beside  the 
books  of  the  German  reformers,  with  which  he  was 
familiar,  he  circulated  certain  writings  of  his  own, 
and  particularly  a  treatise,  entitled,  Explication  of  the 
Articles  of  Faith;  containing  a  brief  statement  and 
defence  of  the  new  opinions.     By  his  zealous  exer- 

*  Llorcnte,  iii.  85,  86. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  171 

tions,  many  were  induced  to  join  themselves  to  the 
reformed  church  in  ValladoUd,  among  whom  were 
several  individuals  belonging  to  his  own  family,  as 
well  as  that  of  the  marquis  of  Alcagnizes,  and  other 
noble  houses  of  Castile.* 

The  Protestants  at  Valladolid  obtained  an  instructer 
of  greater  talents  and  reputation,  though  of  inferior 
courage,  in  Doctor  Augustin  Gazalla.  This  learned 
man  was  the  son  of  Pedro  Cazalla,  chief  officer  of  the 
royal  finances,  and  of  Leanor  de  Vibero ;  both  of  them 
descended  from  Jewish  ancestors.  In  1526  a  process 
was  commenced  before  the  Inquisition  against  Con- 
stanza  Ortiz,  the  mother  of  Leanor  de  Vibero,  as 
having  died  in  a  state  of  relapse  to  Judaism;  but  her 
son-in-law,  by  his  influence  with  the  inquisitor  Moriz, 
prevented  her  bones  from  being  disturbed,  and  averted 
the  infamy  which  otherwise  would  have  been  entailed 
on  his  family.!  His  son,  Augustin  Cazalla,  was  born 
in  1510,  and  at  seventeen  years  of  age  had  Bartolome 
Carranza  for  his  confessor.  After  attending  the  col- 
lege of  San  Gregorio  at  Valladolid,  he  finished  his 
studies  at  Alcala  de  Henares,  and  was  admitted  % 
canon  of  Salamanca.  ±  The  interest  possessed  by  his 
father,  together  with  his  own  talents,  opened  up  to 
him  the  most  flattering  prospects  of  advancement  in 
the  church.  Being  esteemed  one  of  the  first  pulpit 
orators  in  Spain,§  he  was  in  1545  chosen  preacher  and 
almoner  to  the  emperor,  whom  he  accompanied  in  the 
course  of  the  following  year  to  Germany.  During  his 
residence  in  that  country,  he  was  engaged  in  opposing 
the  Lutherans,  by  preaching  and  private  disputation.  || 

Spanish  writers  impute  the  extensive  spread  of  the 
Protestant  opinions  in  the  Peninsula,  in  a  great  degree, 
to  the  circumstance  that  their  learned  countrymen, 

*  Llorente,  ii.  228-230,  233;  iii.  202-217,  220-1.  The  leading 
facts  concerning  De  Roxas,  stated  by  Llorente  in  the  passages  re- 
ferred to,  are  confirmed  by  the  Register  appended  to  the  English 
translation  of  Montanus's  work  on  the  Inquisition,  by  V.  Skinner, 
sig.  E.  ij. 

t  Llorente,  ii.  25-27.  t  Llorente,  ii.  222. 

§  Illcscas,  liistoria  Pontifical,  torn.  ii.  f.  337,  b. 

II  Llorente,  ii.  223. 


172  HISTORY    OF    THE 

being  sent  into  foreign  parts  to  confute  the  Lutherans, 
returned  with  their  minds  infected  with  heresy;  an 
acknowledgment  not  very  honourable  to  the  cause 
which  they  maintain,  as  it  implies  that  their  national 
creed  owes  its  support  chiefly  to  ignorance,  and  that, 
Avhen  brought  to  the  light  of  Scripture  and  argument, 
its  ablest  defenders  were  convinced  of  its  weakness 
and  falsehood.  "  Formerly,"  says  the  author  of  the 
Pontifical  History,  "  such  Lutheran  heretics  as  were 
now  and  then  apprehended  and  committed  to  the 
flames,  were  almost  all  either  strangers, — Germans, 
Flemings,  and  English,  or,  if  Spaniards,  they  were 
mean  people  and  of  a  bad  race ;  but  in  these  late  years, 
we  have  seen  the  prisons,  scaffolds,  and  stakes,  crowd- 
ed with  persons  of  noble  birth,  and,  what  is  still  more 
to  be  deplored,  with  persons  illustrious,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  world,  for  letters  and  piety.  The  cause  of  this, 
and  many  other  evils,  was  the  affection  which  our 
catholic  princes  cherished  for  Germany,  England,  and 
other  countries  without  the  pale  of  the  church,  which 
induced  them  to  send  learned  men  and  preachers  from 
Spain  to  these  places,  in  the  hopes  that,  by  their  ser- 
mons, they  would  be  brought  back  to  the  path  of 
truth.  But  imhappily,  this  measure  was  productive 
of  little  good  fruit ;  for  of  those  who  went  abroad  to 
give  light  to  others,  some  returned  home  blind  them- 
selves, and  being  deceived,  or  puffed  up  with  ambi- 
tion, or  a  desire  to  be  thought  vastly  learned,  and  im- 
proved by  their  residence  in  foreign  countries,  they 
followed  the  example  of  the  heretics  with  whom  they 
had  disputed."*  This  important  fact  is  confirmed  by 
the  testimony  of  contemporary  Protestant  writers,  with 
a  particular  reference  to  those  divines  whom  Philip  II. 
brought  along  with  him  into  England,  on  his  mar- 
riage with  queen  Mary.  "  It  is  much  more  notable," 
says  the  venerable  Pilkington,  "  that  we  have  seen 
come  to  pass  in  our  days,  that  the  Spaniards  sent  for 
into  the  realm  on  purpose  to  suppress  the  gospel,  as 
soon  as  they  were  returned  home,  replenished  many 
parts  of  their  country  witli  the  same  truth  of  religion 

*  Illescas,  ut  supra. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  173 

to  the  which  before  they  were  utter  enemies."*  It 
is  probable  that  these  authors  inchide  in  their  state- 
ment those  divines  who  were  accused  to  the  Inquisi 
tion,  and  thrown  into  prison,  on  suspicion  of  heresy, 
though  they  were  averse  to  Lutheranism,  or,  at  most, 
favourably  inchned  to  it  in  some  points  connected  with 
the  doctrine  of  justification.  But  there  are  at  least 
two  striking  instances  of  the  truth  of  their  remark. 
It  was  during  his  attendance  on  the  emperor  in  Ger 
many,  as  we  have  already  seen,  that  Constantine 
Ponce  de  la  Fuente  decidedly  embraced  the  reformed 
faith;  and  Augustin  de  Cazalla  became  a  convert  to 
it  in  the  same  circumstances.!. 

On  returning  to  Spain  in  1552,  Cazalla  took  up  his 
residence  at  Salamanca,  where  he  remained  for  three 
years.  But  he  kept  up  an  epistolary  correspondence 
with  the  Protestants  of  Seville ;  and  his  office  of  royal 
chaplain  leading  him  occasionally  to  visit  Valladolid, 
he  was  induced  by  Domingo  de  Roxas  to  fix  his 
abode  in  this  city.  He  still  continued,  however,  to  be 
regarded  as  a  patron  of  the  established  faith,  and  was 
consulted  on  the  most  important  questions  of  an  eccle- 
siastical kind.  Soon  after  his  return  to  Spain  he  was 
nominated  by  the  emperor  as  a  member  of  a  junta  of 
divines  and  lawyers,  who  were  called  to  give  their 
opinion  on  the  conduct  of  Julius  III.  in  transferring 
the  general  council  from  Trent  to  Bologna ;  on  which 
occasion  he  joined  with  his  colleagues  in  declaring 
that  the  pope  was  actuated  in  that  measure  more  by 
personal  considerations  than  regard  to  the  good  of  the 
church.  J  He  also  preached  at  different  times  before 
Charles  V.,  after  his  retirement  into  the  convent  of  St. 
Juste,  when  he  had  for  hearers  the  princess  Joanna, 
who  governed  Spain  in  the  absence  of  her  brother 
Philip  II.,  together  with  other  members  of  the  royal 
family.     In  spite  of  the  caution  which  he  used  on 

*  Se.mon  by  James  Pilkington,  Master  of  St.  John's  College,  Cam- 
bridge,  (afterwards  bishop  of  Durham)  at  the  interring  of  the  bones 
of  Martin  Bucer  and  Paul  Fagius;  apud  Strype's  Memorials  of  Cran- 
mer,  p.  246. 

t  Sepulveda  de  Rebus  gestis  Philippi  II.  p.  55 :  Opera,  torn.  iii. 

t  Llorente,  ii.  222,  223. 


174  HISTORY    OF    THE 

these  occasions,  his  real  sentiments  were  discovered 
by  the  more  intelligent  of  those  who  frequented  the 
court;  but  they  were  unwilling  to  fix  the  stigma  of 
heresy  on  a  person  of  so  great  reputation,  and  could 
not  permit  themselves  to  believe  that  he  would  rush 
upon  certain  danger  by  transgressing  the  line  of  pru- 
dence which  he  appeared  to  have  prescribed  to  him- 
self.* In  this  opinion,  however,  they  were  deceived. 
After  his  settlement  at  Valladolid  his  mother's  house 
became  the  ordinary  place  in  which  the  Protestant 
church  assembled  for  worship.  The  greater  part  of 
his  relations  were  among  its  members.  He  could  not 
resist  the  pressing  requests  which  were  made  to  him 
to  take  the  charge  of  its  spiritual  interests;  and  fa- 
voured with  his  talents  and  the  authority  of  his  name, 
it  increased  daily  in  numbers  and  respectability.! 

At  Valladolid,  as  at  Seville,  the  reformed  doctrine 
penetrated  into  the  monasteries.  It  was  embraced  by 
a  great  portion  of  the  nuns  of  Santa  Clara,  and  of  the 
Cistercian  order  of  San  Belen;.-j:  and  had  its  converts 
among  the  class  of  devout  women,  called  in  Spain 
beatas,  who  are  bound  by  no  particular  rule,  but  ad- 
dict themselves  to  works  of  charity.§ 

The  Protestant  opinions  spread  in  every  direc- 
tion round  Valladolid.  They  had  converts  in  almost 
all  the  towns,  and  in  many  of  the  villages,  of  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  Leon.  In  the  town  of  Toro 
they  were  embraced  by  the  licentiate  Antonio  Here- 
zuelo,  an  advocate  of  great  spirit,  and  by  individ- 
uals belonging  to  the  houses  of  the  marquises  de  la 
Mota  and  d'Alcagnizes.||  In  the  city  of  Zamora  the 
Protestants  were  headed  by  Don  Christobal  de  Padilla, 
a  cavalier,  who  had  undertaken  the  task  of  tutor  to  a 

*  Sepulvcda,  after  mentioning  tliat  he  had  heard  Cazalla  preach  at 
St.  Juste,  says,  "  Animadvcrti,  id  quod  ex  ipso  etiam  audivi,  cum 
magna  solicitudine  cavere,  nequod  verbum  excidcret  concionanti, 
quod  ab  a^mulis  et  invidis,  quos  vchementur  extimescebat,  ad  caluin- 
niam  tralii  posset."     (De  Rebus  gestis  Philippi  II.  p.  55.) 

t  Cyi)riano  de  Valcra,  Dos  Tratados,  p.  251.     Llorentc,  ii.201,  222. 

X  Llorcnte,  ii.  22f),  240-243. 

§  Ibid.  ii.  231,  242. 

II  Ibid.  ii.  227,  22J).  Register  appended  to  Skinner's  translation  of 
Montanus,  sig.  E.  i.  b. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  175 

noble  family  of  that  place,  that  he  might  have  the 
better  opportmiity  of  propagating  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth.*  The  reformed  opinions  were  also  intro- 
duced into  Aldea  del  Palo  and  Pedroso,  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Zamora.  In  the  last  of  these  villages  they 
had  numerous  converts,  who  enjoyed  the  instructions 
of  Pedro  de  Cazalla,  their  parish  priest.t  Their  spread 
was  equally  extensive  in  the  diocese  of  Palencia.  In 
the  episcopal  city  they  were  taught  by  Doctor  Alfonso 
Perez,  a  priest,  and  patronized  by  Don  Pedro  Sarmi- 
ento,  a  cavalier  of  the  order  of  Santiago,  commander 
of  Quintana,  and  a  son  of  the  marquis  de  Roxas.  The 
parish  priest  of  the  neighbouring  villages  of  Hormi- 
gos  belonged  to  the  family  of  Cazalla,  which  was 
wholly  Protestant.  J  From  Valladolid,  the  new  opin- 
ions were  diffused  through  Old  Castile  to  Soria  in  the 
diocese  of  Osma,  and  to  Logrono  on  the  borders  of 
Navarre.  In  the  last-named  town  they  were  em- 
braced by  numbers,  including  the  individual  who  was 
at  the  head  of  the  custom-house,  and  the  parish  priest 
of  Villamediana  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Logrono. § 

The  propagation  of  the  reformed  doctrine  in  all 
these  places  was  owing  in  a  great  degree  to  Don  Car- 
los de  Seso.  This  distinguished  nobleman  was  born 
at  Verona  in  Italy.  Having  performed  important 
services  for  Charles  V.,  he  was  held  in  great  honour 
by  that  monarch,  through  whose  interest  he  obtained 
in  marriage  Donna  Isabella  de  Castilla,  a  descendant 
of  the  royal  family  of  Castile  and  Leon.  De  Seso  was 
not  less  elevated  by  dignity  of  character,  mental  ac- 
complishments and  decorum  of  manners,  than  by  his 
birth  and  connexions.  While  he  resided  at  Valladolid 
he  connected  himself  with  the  Protestants  in  that  city. 
At  Toro,  of  which  he  was  corregidor,  or  mayor,  at 
Zamora,  and  at  Palencia,  he  zealously  promoted  the 

*  Llorente,  ii.  227,  241.    Register,  ut  supra. 

t  Illescas,  Hist.  Pontif.  torn.  ii.  f.  337,  b.  Llorente,  ii.  228,  233, 
237. 

t  Sepulveda  de  Rebus  gestis  Philippi  II.  p.  57.  Llorente,  ii.  225, 
226,  228. 

§  Register,  ut  supra,  sig.  E.  i.  a.  E.  ij.  b.  Llorente,  ii.  227,  238, 
407. 


176  HISTORY    OF    THE 

cause  of  reformation,  by  the  circulation  of  books  and 
by  personal  instructions.  After  his  marriage,  he  set- 
tled at  Villamediana,  and  was  most  successful  in  dif- 
fusing religious  knowledge  in  the  city  of  Logrono,  and 
in  all  the  surrounding  country.* 

The  reformed  cause  did  not  make  so  great  progress 
in  New  Castile,  but  it  was  embraced  by  many  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  that  country,  and  particularly  in  the 
city  of  Toledo.!  It  had  also  adherents  in  the  prov- 
inces of  Granada,±  of  Murcia,§  and  of  Valencia.  || 
But,  with  the  exception  of  the  places  round  Seville 
and  Valladolid,  nowhere  Avere  they  more  numerous 
than  in  Aragon.  They  had  formed  settlements  in  Sa- 
ragossa,  Huesca,  Balbastro,  and  many  other  towns.lT 
This  being  the  case,  it  may  appear  singular  that  we 
have  no  particular  account  of  the  Protestants  in  the 
eastern  part  of  Spain.  But  one  reason  serves  to  ac- 
count for  both  facts.  The  inhabitants  of  Beam  were 
generally  Protestants;  and  many  of  them,  crossing 
the  Pyrenees,  spread  themselves  over  Aragon,  and,  at 
the  same  time  that  they  carried  on  trade,  found  the 
opportunity  of  circulating  their  religious  books  and 
tenets  among  the  natives.  When  violent  measures 
were  adopted  for  crushing  the  Reformation  in  Spain, 
the  greater  part  of  them  made  good  their  retreat,  with- 
out difficulty  and  without  noise,  to  their  native  coun- 
try, where  the  proselytes  they  had  made  found  an 
asylum  along  with  them ;  whereas  their  brethren  who 
were  situated  in  the  interior  of  the  kingdom  either 
fell  into  the  hands  of  their  prosecutors,  or,  escaping 
Avith  great  difficulty,  were  dispersed  over  all  parts  of 
Europe;  and  thus  the  tragical  fate  of  the  one  class, 
and  the  narrow  and  next  to  miraculous  escape  of  the 
other,  by  exciting  deep  interest  in  the  public  mind, 
caused  their  names  and  their  history  to  be  inquired 
after  and  recorded. 

By  the  facts  which  have  been  brought  forward,  the 

*  Illescas,  Hist.  Pontif.  torn.  i.  f.  337,  b.     Llorcntc,  ii.  235-6,  407. 

+  Illescas,  ut  supra.     Llorcntc,  ii.  384,  386. 

X  Llorcntc,  ii.  401.  §  Ib'.d.  p.  340-343. 

II  Ibid.  p.  411.  "f  Ibid.  p.  386,  389. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  177 

reader  will  be  enabled  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  ex- 
tent to  which  the  reformed  doctrine  was  propagated 
in  Spain,  and  of  the  respectability,  as  well  as  number, 
of  its  disciples.  Perhaps  there  never  was  in  any  other 
country  so  large  a  proportion  of  persons,  illustrious 
either  from  their  rank  or  their  learning,  among  the 
converts  to  a  new  and  proscribed  religion.  This  cir- 
cumstance helps  to  account  for  the  singular  fact,  that 
a  body  of  dissidents,  who  could  not  amount  to  fewer 
than  two  thousand  persons,  scattered  over  an  exten- 
sive country,  and  loosely  connected  with  one  another, 
should  have  been  able  to  communicate  their  senti- 
ments, and  hold  their  private  meetings,  for  a  number 
of  years,  without  being  detected  by  a  court  so  jealous 
and  vigilant  as  that  of  the  Inquisition.  In  forming  a 
judgment  of  the  tendency  which  existed  at  this  time 
in  the  minds  of  Spaniards  toward  the  reformed  doc- 
trine, we  must  take  into  account,  not  only  the  num- 
bers who  embraced  it,  but  also  the  peculiar  and  al- 
most unprecedented  difficulties  which  resisted  its  pro- 
gress. At  the  beginning  of  Christianity,  the  apostles 
had  for  some  time  the  external  liberty  of  preaching 
the  Gospel;  and  when  persecution  forced  them  to 
flee  from  one  city,  they  found  "an  effectual  door" 
opened  to  them  in  another.  Luther,  and  his  co-ad- 
jutors  in  Germany,  were  enabled  to  proclaim  their 
doctrine  from  the  pulpit  and  the  press,  under  the 
protection  of  princes  and  free  cities,  possessing  an 
authority  within  their  own  territories  which  was  in- 
dependent of  the  emperor.  The  reformers  of  Scot- 
land enjoyed  a  similar  advantage  under  their  feudal 
chiefs.  The  breach  of  Henry  VIII.  with  the  pope, 
on  a  domestic  ground,  gave  to  the  people  of  England 
the  Bible  in  their  own  language,  which  they  were  at 
least  permitted  to  hear  read  from  the  pulpits,  to 
which  it  was  chained.  In  France,  a  Hugonot  could 
not  be  seized  without  the  concurrence  and  orders  of 
the  magistrates,  who  sometimes  proved  reluctant  and 
dilatory.  And  the  same  check  was  imposed  on  the 
violence  of  a  persecuting  priesthood,  in  many  of  the 
Italian  states.     But  not  one  of  these  advantages  was 


178  HISTORY    OF    THE 

enjoyed  by  the  friends  of  the  Reformation  in  Spain, 
Avhere  the  sUghtest  expression  of  public  opinion  in 
favour  of  the  truth  was  prevented  or  instantly  put 
down  by  a  terrific  tribunal,  armed  with  both  swords, 
and  present  at  once  in  every  part  of  the  kingdom. 
That  flame  must  have  been  intense,  and  supplied  with 
ample  materials  of  combustion,  which  could  continue 
to  burn  and  to  spread  in  all  directions,  though  it  was 
closely  pent  up,  and  the  greatest  care  was  taken  to 
search  out  and  secure  every  aperture  and  crevice  by 
which  it  might  find  a  vent,  or  come  into  communica- 
tion with  the  external  atmosphere.     Had  these  ob- 
structions to  the  progress  of  the  reformed  doctrine  in 
Spain  been  removed,  though  only  in  part  and  for  a 
short  time,  it  would  have  burst  into  a  flame,  which 
resistance  would   only  have   increased,  and  which, 
spreading  over  the  Peninsula,  would  have  consumed 
the  Inquisition,  the  hierarchy,  the  papacy,  and  the 
despotism  by  which  they  had  been  reared  and  were 
upheld.     These  were  not  the  sanguine  anticipations 
of  enthusiastic  friends  to  the  Reformation,  but  the  de- 
liberately-expressed sentiments  of  its  decided  enemies.* 
"  Had  not  the  Inquisition  taken  care  in  time,"  says 
one  of  them,  "  to  put  a  stop  to  these  preachers,  the 
Protestant  religion  would  have  run  through   Spain 
like  wildfire ;  people  of  all  ranks,  and  of  both  sexes, 
having   been  wonderfully  disposed   to  receive  it."t 
The  testimony  of  another  popish  writer  is  equall^T" 
strong.     "  All  the  prisoners  in  the  Inquisitions  of  Val- 
ladolid,  Seville,  and  Toledo,  were  persons  abundantly 
well  qualified.     I  shall  here  pass  over  their  names  in 
silence,  that  I  may  not,  by  their  bad  fame,  stain  the 
honour  of  their  ancestors,  and  the  nobility  of  the  seve- 
ral illustrious  families  which  were  infected  with  this 
poison.      And  as  these  prisoners  were  persons  thus 
qualified,  so  their  number  was  so  great,  that  had  the 

*  Authorities  for  this  assertion,  beside  those  which  are  subjoined, 
may  be  seen  in  La  Croze,  liistoire  de  Christianisme  des  Indes,  p,  256, 
257. 

t  Paramo,  Hist.  Inqnisitionis :  Preface  to  Spanish  Martyrology,  in 
Gcddcs's  Miscell.  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  555. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  179 

Stop  put  to  that  evil  been  delayed  two  or  three  months 
longer,  I  am  persuaded  all  Spain  would  have  been 
set  in  a  flame  by  them."*  I  subjoin  the  reflection  of 
a  Protestant  author,  who  resided  for  a  considerable 
time  in  Spain,  and,  feeling  a  deep  interest  in  this  por- 
tion of  its  history,  drew  up  a  short  account  of  its  Pro- 
testant martyrs.  "  So  powerful  (says  he)  were  the 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation  in  those  days,  that  no 
prejudices  nor  interests  were  any  where  strong  enough 
to  hinder  piously  disposed  minds,  after  they  came 
thoroughly  to  understand  them,  from  embracing  them. 
And  that  the  same  doctrines  have  not  still  the  same 
divine  force,  is  neither  owing  to  their  being  grown 
older,  nor  to  popery's  not  being  so  gross,  nor  to  any 
change  in  people's  natural  dispositions,  but  is  owing 
purely  to  the  want  of  the  same  zeal  for  those  doctrines 
in  their  professors,  and  especially  for  the  three  great 
doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  Avhich  the  following 
martyrs  sealed  with  their  blood :  which  were,  that  the 
pope  is  antichrist;  that  the  worship  of  the  church  of 
Rome  is  idolatrous;  and  that  a  sinner  is  justified  in 
the  sight  of  God  by  faith,  and  through  Christ's  and 
not  through  his  own  merits."! 


CHAPTER  yil. 

SUPPRESSION    OF    THE    REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN. 

We  cannot  condemn,  either  upon  the  principles  of 
nature  or  revelation,  those  individuals  who,  finding 
themselves  in  the  utmost  peril  of  their  lives,  chose  to 
forsake  their  native  country,  and  to  seek  abroad  for  a 
place  in  which  they  were  at  liberty  to  worship  God 
according  to  their  consciences.  Yet  it  was  this  step 
on  the  part  of  some  of  the  Spanish  Protestants  which 

*  Illescas,  Hist.  Pontifical,  torn.  ii.  f.  451,  a.  Burgos,  1578.  The 
edition  of  Illescas  quoted  in  the  former  part  of  this  work  was  printed 
at  Barcelona,  in  1606. 

t  Geddes,  Miscell.  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  556. 


180  HISTORY    OF    THE 

led  to  the  discovery  of  their  brethren  who  remained 
behind.  Their  sudden  disappearance  led  to  inquiries 
as  to  the  cause,  and  the  knowledge  of  this  excited 
suspicions  that  they  were  not  the  only  persons  who 
were  disaffected  to  the  religion  of  their  country.  The 
divines  attached  to  the  court  of  Philip  11.  at  Brussels 
kept  a  strict  watch  upon  the  refugees  from  Spain  who 
had  settled  in  Geneva  and  different  places  of  Ger- 
many; and,  having  got  possession  of  their  secrets  by 
means  of  spies,  conveyed  information  to  the  inquisi- 
tors, that  a  large  quantity  of  heretical  books  had  been 
sent  to  Spain,  and  that  the  Protestant  doctrine  was 
spreading  rapidly  in  the  kingdom.  This  intelligence 
was  received  in  the  close  of  the  year  1557.* 

Roused  from  their  security,  the  inquisitors  instant- 
ly put  their  extensive  police  in  motion,  and  were  not 
long  in  discovering  the  individual  who  had  been  ac- 
tive in  introducing  the  heretical  books.  Julian  Her- 
nandez, in  consequence  of  information  received  from 
a  smith,  to  whom  he  had  shown  a  copy  of  the  New 
Testament,  was  apprehended  and  thrown  into  prison. t 
He  did  not  seek  to  conceal  his  sentiments,  and  gloried 
in  the  fact  that  he  had  contributed  to  the  illumination 
of  his  countrymen  by  furnishing  them  with  the  Scrip- 
tures in  their  native  tongue.  But  the  inquisitors  were 
disappointed  in  the  expectations  they  had  formed 
from  his  apprehension.  His  life  indeed  was  in  their 
hands,  and  they  could  dispose  of  it  according  to  their 
pleasure ;  but  the  blood  of  an  obscure  individual  ap- 
peared, in  their  eyes,  altogether  inadequate  to  wash 
away  the  disgrace  which  they  had  incurred  by  their 
failure  in  point  of  vigilance,  or  to  expiate  the  enor- 
mous crime  Avhich  had  defiled  the  land.  What  they 
aimed  at  was,  to  obtain  from  the  prisoner  such  infor- 
mation I'especting  his  associates  as  would  enable  them 
"at  once  to  crush  the  viper's  nest,"  (to  use  their  own 
words)  and  set  them  at  ease  for  the  future.  But  they 
found  themselves  mortify ingly  baffled  in  all  their  at- 

»  Llorentc,  iii.  191,  258. 

t  Rcfjister  appended  to  Skinner's  translation  of  Montanus,  sig. 
D  d.  iiij.  a. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  181 

tempts  to  accomplish  this  object.  In  vain  they  had 
recourse  to  those  arts  of  deceit  in  which  they  were  so 
deeply  practised,  in  order  to  draw  from  Hernandez 
his  secret.  In  vain  they  employed  promises  and 
threats,  examinations  and  cross-examinations,  some- 
times in  the  hall  of  audience,  and  at  other  times  in 
his  cell,  into  which  they  sent  alternately  their  avow- 
ed agents,  and  persons  who  "feigned  themselves  just 
men,"  and  friendly  to  the  reformed  doctrine.  When 
questioned  concerning  his  own  faith,  he  answered 
frankly;  and  though  destitute  of  the  advantages  of  a 
liberal  education,  he  defended  himself  with  boldness, 
silencing,  by  his  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  alone, 
his  judges,  together  with  the  learned  men  whom  they 
brought  to  confute  him.  But  when  asked  to  declare 
who  were  his  religious  instructers  and  companions, 
he  refused  to  utter  a  word.  Nor  were  they  more  suc- 
cessful when  they  had  recourse  to  that  horrid  engine 
which  had  often  wrung  secrets  from  the  stoutest 
hearts,  and  made  them  betray  their  nearest  and  best 
beloved  friends.  Hernandez  displayed  a  firmness  and 
heroism  altogether  above  his  physical  strength  and 
his  station  in  life.  During  the  three  years  complete 
that  he  was  kept  in  prison,  he  was  frequently  put  to 
to  the  torture,  in  every  form  and  with  all  the  aggra- 
vations of  cruelty  which  his  persecutors,  incensed  at 
his  obstinacy,  could  inflict  or  devise;  but,  on  every 
fresh  occasion,  he  appeared  before  them  with  unsub- 
dued fortitude;  and  when  led, or  rather  dragged, from 
the  place  of  torment  to  his  cell,  he  returned  with  an 
air  of  triumph,  chanting  this  refraii,  in  his  native 
tongue : 

Vencidos  van  los  frayles,  vencidos  van : 
Corridos  van  los  lobos,  corridos  van.* 

Conquered  return  the  friars,  conquered  return  : 
Scattered  return  the  wolves,  scattered  return. 

At  length  the  inquisitors  got  possession  of  the  se- 
cret which  they  were  so  eager  to  know.  This  was 
obtained  at  Seville,  by  means  of  the   superstitious 

*  Histoire  des  Martyrs,  f.  497,  b.     Llorente,  ii.  282. 


182  HISTORY    OF    THE 

fears  of  one  member  of  the  Protestant  church,  and 
the  treachery  of  another,  who  had  for  some  time  act- 
ed as  a  concealed  emissary  of  the  Inquisition.*  At 
Valladohd,  it  was  obtained  by  one  of  those  infernal 
arts,  which  that  tribunal,  whenever  it  served  its  pur- 
poses, has  never  scrupled  to  employ.  Juan  Garcia,  a 
goldsmith  had  been  in  the  habit  of  summoning  the 
Protestants  to  sermon;  and  aware  of  the  influence 
which  superstition  exerted  over  the  mind  of  his  wife, 
he  concealed  from  her  the  place  and  times  of  their  as- 
sembling. Being  gained  by  her  confessor,  this  de- 
mon in  woman's  shape  dogged  her  husband  one 
night,  and  having  ascertained  the  place  of  meeting, 
communicated  the  fact  to  the  Inquisition.  The  trai- 
tress received  her  earthly  reward  in  an  annuity  for  life, 
paid  from  the  public  fmidsit 

Having  made  these  important  discoveries,  the  coun- 
cil of  the  Supreme  despatched  messengers  to  the  se- 
veral tribunals  of  Inquisition  through  the  kingdom, 
directing  them  to  make  inquiries  with  all  secrecy 
within  their  respective  jurisdictions,  and  to  be  pre- 
pared, on  receiving  further  instructions,  to  act  in  con- 
cert. The  familiars  were  employed  in  tracing  out  the 
remoter  ramifications  of  heresy;  and  guards  were 
planted  at  convenient  places,  to  intercept  and  seize 
such  persons  as  might  attempt  to  escape.  These  pre- 
cautions having  been  taken,  orders  were  issued  to 
the  proper  agents;  and  by  a  simultaneous  movement, 
the  Protestants  were  seized  at  the  same  time  in  Seville, 
hi  Valladolid,  and  in  all  the  surrounding  country.  In 
Seville  and  its  neighbourhood  two  hundred  persons 
were  apprehended  in  one  day ;  and,  in  consequence  of 
information  resulting  from  their  examinations,  the 
number  soon  increased  to  eight  hundred.  The  castle 
of  Triana,  tlie  common  prisons,  the  convents,  and 
even  private  houses,  were  crowded  with  the  victims. 
Eighty  persons  were  committed  to  prison  in  Vallado- 
lid, and  the  number  of  hidividuals  seized  by  the  other 

*  Montanus,  p.  218. 

t  Register  appended  to  Skinner's  translation  of  Montanus,  sig.  E. 
i.  a.    Llorente,  ii.  227. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  183 

tribunals  was  in  proportion.*  When  the  alarm  was 
first  given,  many  were  so  thunderstruck  and  appalled 
as  to  be  unable  to  take  the  least  step  for  securing  their 
safety.  Some  ran  to  the  house  of  the  Inquisition, 
and  informed  against  themselves,  without  knowing 
what  they  were  doing ;  like  persons  who,  rushing  out 
of  a  house  which  has  taken  fire  in  the  night-time  pre- 
cipitate themselves  into  a  devouring  flood.  Others, 
in  attempting  to  make  their  escape,  were  pursued  and 
overtaken;  and  some,  who  had  reached  a  Protestant 
comitry,  becoming  secure,  fell  into  the  snares  laid  for 
them  by  the  spies  of  the  Holy  Ofiice,  were  forcibly 
carried  off,  and  brought  back  to  Spain.  Among  those 
who  made  good  their  retreat,  was  the  licentiate  Zafra, 
formerly  mentioned,  who  was  peculiarly  obnoxious  to 
the  inquisitors.  He  was  apprehended  among  the 
first,  but,  during  the  confusion  caused  by  want  of 
room  to  contain  the  prisoners,  contrived  to  make  his 
escape,  and  to  conceal  himself,  until  he  found  a  fa- 
vourable opportunity  of  retiring  into  Germany.! 

The  reader  will  recollect  the  reform  which  the 
monks  of  San  Isidro  had  introduced  into  their  con- 
vent. |  Desirable  as  this  change  was  in  itself,  and 
commendable  as  was  their  conduct  in  adopting  it,  it 
brought  them  into  a  situation  both  delicate  and  pain- 
ful. They  could  not  throw  off  the  monastic  forms 
entirely,  without  exposing  themselves  to  the  fury  of 
their  enemies;  nor  yet  could  they  retain  them,  with- 
out being  conscious  of  acting  to  a  certain  degree  hy- 
pocritically, and  giving  countenance  to  a  pernicious 
system  of  superstition,  by  which  their  country  was 
at  once  deluded  and  oppressed.  In  this  dilemma, 
they  held  a  consultation  on  the  propriety  of  deserting 
the  convent,  and  retiring  to  some  foreign  land,  in 
which,  at  the  expense  of  sacrificing  their  worldly 
emoluments  and  spending  their  lives  in  poverty,  they 
might  enjoy  peace  of  mind  and  the  freedom  of  reli- 
gious worship.    The  attempt  was  of  the  most  hazard- 

*  Montanus,  218,  219.     Puigblanch's  Inquisition  Unmasked,  vol. 
ii.  p.  183.    Llorente,  ii.  250,  25B. 

t  Montanus,  p.  52.  t  See  before,  p.  168. 


184  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ous  kind,  and  difficulties  presented  themselves  to  any 
plan  which  could  be  suggested  for  carrying  it  into 
execution.  How  could  so  many  persons,  well  known 
in  Seville,  and  all  around  it,  after  having  left  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  monasteries  in  Spain  deserted,  ex- 
pect to  accomplish  so  long  a  journey,  without  being 
discovered?  If  on  the  other  hand  a  few  of  them 
should  make  the  attempt  and  succeed,  would  not  this 
step  bring  the  lives  of  the  remainder  into  the  greatest 
jeopardy;  especially  as  the  suspicions  of  the  inquisi- 
tors, which  had  for  a  considerable  time  been  laid  as- 
leep, had  been  lately  aroused  ?  This  last  consideration 
appeared  so  strong  that  they  unanimously  resolved  to 
remain  where  they  were,  and  commit  themselves  to  the 
disposal  of  an  all-powerful  and  gracious  Providence. 
But  the  aspect,  of  matters  becoming  hourly  darker 
and  more  alarming,  another  chapter  was  held,  at 
which  it  was  agreed  that  it  would  be  tempting  in- 
stead of  trusting  Providence  to  adhere  to  their  former 
resolution,  and  that  therefore,  every  one  should  be  left 
at  liberty  to  adopt  that  course  which  in  the  emergency 
appeared  to  his  own  mind  best  and  most  advisable. 
Accordingly,  twelve  of  their  number  left  the  monas- 
tery, and  taking  different  routes,  got  safely  out  of 
Spain,  and  at  the  end  of  twelve  months  met  in  Gene- 
va, which  they  had  previously  agreed  upon  as  the 
place  of  their  rendezvous.  They  were  gone  only  a 
few  days  when  the  storm  of  persecution  burst  on  the 
heads  not  only  of  their  brethren  who  remained  in 
San  Isidro,  but  of  all  their  religious  connexions  in 
Spain.* 

It  was  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  155S  that  this 
calamitous  event  befell  Spain.  Previously  to  that 
period  Charles  V.,  having  relinquished  his  schemes  of 
worldly  ambition,  and  resigned  the  empire  in  favour 
of  his  brother  Ferdinand,  and  his  hereditary  dominions 
to  liis  son  Philip,  liad  retired  into  the  convent  of  St. 
Juste,  situated  in  the  province  of  Estremadura,  where 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  days  in  the  society  and 

*  Cypriano  de  Valera,  Dos  Tratados,  p.  178.     Montanus,  p.  249, 
250. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  185 

devotional  exercises  of  monks.      Several  historians 
of  no  inconsiderable  reputation  have  asserted,  that 
Charles,  during  his  retreat,  became  favourable  to  the 
sentiments  of  the  Protestants  of  Germany,  that  he  died 
in  their  faith,  that  Phihp  charged  the  Holy  Office  to 
investigate  the  trutli  of  this  report,  and  that  he  had  at 
one  time  serious  thoughts  of  disinterring  the  bones  of 
his  father  as  those  of  a  heretic*    Various  causes  may 
be  assigned  for  the  currency  of  these  rumours.    Charles 
had  three  years  before  been  involved  in  a  dispute  with 
Paul  IV.,  who  had  threatened  him  with  excommuni- 
cation; Constantine  Ponce  and  Augustin  Cazalla,  two 
of  his  chaplains,  had  embraced  the  Protestant  opinions ; 
his  confessor  De  Regla  had  been  forced  to  abjure  them; 
and  Carranza  and  Villalba,  who  exhorted  him  on  his 
death-bed,  were  soon  after  denounced  to  the  Inquisi- 
tion.    To  these  presumptions  it  may  be  added,  that 
the  manner  in  which  Philip  treated  his  son  Don  Carlos, 
and  the  known  fact  that  he  never  scrupled  to  employ 
the  Inquisition  as  an  engine  for  accomplishing  pur- 
poses purely  political,  if  not  domestic  also,  have  in- 
duced historians,  from  supposing  him  capable  of  any 
crime,  to  impute  to  him  those  of  which  he  was  never 
guilty.t     There  is  the  best  reason  for  believing  that 
Charles,  instead  of  being  more  favourably  disposed, 
became  more  averse  to  the  Protestants  in  his  latter 
days,  and  that,  so  far  from  repenting  of  the  conduct 
which  he  had  pursued  towards  them,  his  only  regret 
was  that  he  had  not  treated  them  with  greater  seve- 
rity.    When  informed  that  Lutheranism  was  spread- 
ing in  Spain,  and  that  a  number  of  persons  had  been 
apprehended  under  suspicion  of  being  infected  with 
it,  he  wrote  letters,  from  the  monastery  of  St.  Juste, 
to  his  daughter  Joanna,  governess  of  Spain,  to  Juan 
de  Vega,  president  of  the  council  of  Castile,  and  to 
the  inquisitor  general,  charging  them  to  exert  their 
respective  powers  with  all  possible  vigour  "  in  seizing 
the  whole  party,  and  causing  them  all  to  be  burnt, 

*  See  the  authorities  quoted  by  Burnet,  in  his  History  of  the  Re- 
formation, vol.  iii.  p.  253. 

t  Llorente,  torn.  ii.  chap,  xviii.  art.  2. 

13 


186  HISTORY    OF    THE 

after  using  every  means  to  make  them  Christians  be- 
fore their  punishment;  for  he  was  persuaded  that  none 
of  them  would  become  sincere  cathoUcs,  so  irresistible 
was  their  propensity  to  dogmatize."  He  afterwards 
sent  Luis  Quixada,  his  major-domo,  to  urge  the  exe- 
cution of  these  measures.*  In  conversation  with  the 
prior  and  monks  of  the  convent,  he  took  great  credit 
to  himself  for  having  resisted  the  pressing  solicitations 
of  the  Protestant  princes  to  read  their  books  and  admit 
their  divines  to  an  audience ;  although  they  promised 
on  that  condition  to  march  with  all  their  forces,  at  one 
time  against  the  king  of  France,  and  at  another  against 
the  Turk.t  The  only  thing  for  which  he  blamed  him- 
self was  his  leniency  to  them,  and  particularly  keeping 
faith  with  the  heresiarch.  Speaking  of  the  charge  he 
had  given  to  the  inquisitors  respecting  the  heretics  in 
Spain,  "  If  they  do  not  condemn  them  to  the  fire," 
said  he,  "  they  will  commit  a  great  fault,  as  I  did  in 
permitting  Luther  to  live.  Though  I  spared  him 
solely  on  the  ground  of  the  safe  conduct  I  had  sent 
him,  and  the  promise  I  made  at  a  time  when  I  ex- 
pected to  suppress  the  heretics  by  other  means,  I  con- 
fess nevertheless  that  I  did  wrong  in  this,  because  I 
was  not  bound  to  keep  my  promise  to  that  heretic,  as 
he  had  offended  a  master  greater  than  I,  even  God 
himself.  I  was  at  liberty  then,  yea  I  ought,  to  have 
forgotten  my  word,  and  avenged  the  injury  he  had 
done  to  God.  If  he  had  injured  me  only,  I  should 
have  kept  my  promise  faithful;  but,  in  consequence 
of  my  not  having  taken  away  his  life,  heresy  con- 
tinued to  make  progress,  whereas  his  death,  I  am  per- 
suaded, would  have  stifled  it  in  its  birth.":}:  Nor  does 
this  rest  merely  on  the  evidence  of  reported  conversa- 
tions. In  his  testament,  made  in  the  Low  Countries, 
he  charged  his  son  "  to  be  obedient;  o  the  command- 
ments of  holy  mother  church,  and  especially  to  favour 
and  countenance   the  holy  olfice  of  the   Inquisition 

*  Sandoval,  Ilistoria  dc  la  Vida  y  Hechos  del  Empcrador  Carlos  V. 
torn.  ii.  p.  82!),  881. 

t  Ibid.  p.  388.     ScpulvcdtB  Opera,  toin.  ii.  p.  542-544. 
t  Sandoval,  ut  supra,  p.  829. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  187  ' 

against  heretical  pravity  and  apostasy."  And  in  a 
codicil  to  it,  executed  in  the  convent  of  St.  Juste  a 
few  weeks  before  his  death,  after  mentioning  the  in- 
structions he  had  formerly  given  on  this  subject,  and 
the  confidence  which  he  placed  in  his  son  for  carrying 
them  into  execution,  he  adds ;  "  Therefore  I  entreat 
him  and  recommend  to  him  with  all  possible  and  due 
earnestness,  and  moreover  command  him  as  a  father, 
and  by  the  obedience  Avhich  he  owes  me,  carefully  to 
attend  to  this,  as  an  object  which  is  essential  and  near- 
ly concerns  him,  that  heretics  be  pursued  and  punished 
as  their  crime  deserves,  without  excepting  any  who 
are  guilty,  and  without  showing  any  regard  to  entrea- 
ties, or  to  rank  or  quality.  And  that  my  intentions 
may  be  carried  into  full  effect,  I  charge  him  to  favour 
and  cause  to  be  favoured  the  holy  Inquisition,  which 
is  the  means  of  preventing  and  correcting  so  many 
evils,  as  I  have  enjoined  in  my  testament;  that  so  he 
may  fulfil  his  duty  as  a  prince,  and  that  our  Lord  may 
prosper  him  in  his  reign,  and  protect  him  against  his 
enemies,  to  my  great  peace  and  contentment."* 

But  though  it  appears  from  these  facts  that  the  im- 
prisoned Protestants  had  nothing  to  hope  from  Charles 
v.,  yet  their  calamities  were  aggravated  by  his  retire- 
ment and  the  succession  of  Philip  II.  That  bigotry 
which  in  the  father  was  paralysed  by  the  incipient 
dotage  which  had  inflamed  it,  was  combined  in  the 
son  with  all  the  vigour  of  youth,  and  with  a  temper 
naturally  gloomy  and  unrelenting.  Other  circum- 
stances conspired  to  seal  the  doom  of  the  reformers  in 
Spain.  The  wars  which  had  so  long  raged  between 
that  country  and  France  were  terminated  by  the  treaty 
of  Chateau  Cambresis,  and  the  peace  between  the  rival 
kingdoms  was  ratified  by  the  marriage  of  Philip  to 
the  eldest  daughter  of  the  French  king.  Previously 
to  that  event  the  dissension  between  the  Spanish  mon- 
arch and  the  court  of  Rome  had  been  amicably  adjust- 
ed. The  papal  throne  was  filled  at  this  time  by  Paul 
IV.,  a  furious  persecutor,  and  determined  supporter  of 
the  Inquisition.     And  the  office  of  Inquisitor  general 

*  Sandoval,  ut  supra,  p.  863,  881,  882. 


188  HISTORY    OF    THE 

in  Spain  was  held  by  Francisco  Valdes,  a  prelate  who 
had  already  distinguished  himself  from  his  two  im- 
mediate predecessors  by  the  severity  of  his  adminis- 
tration, and  whose  worldly  passions  were  unmitiga- 
ted by  the  advanced  age  to  which  he  had  arrived. 
The  supreme  pontiff,  the  inquisitor  general,  and  the 
monarch,  were  alike  disposed  to  adopt  the  most  ille- 
gal and  sanguinary  measures  for  extinguishing  here- 
sy in  the  Peninsula. 

When  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  Philip  gave  a 
proof  of  his  extreme  devotion  to  the  Inquisition,  and 
of  the  principles  on  which  his  future  reign  was  to  be 
conducted.  In  the  year  1543  the  marquis  de  Ter- 
ranova,  viceroy  of  Sicily,  ordered  two  familiars  of  the 
Holy  Office  to  be  brought  before  the  ordinary  tribu- 
nals, for  certain  crimes  of  which  they  were  guilty. 
Though  this  was  in  perfect  accordance  with  a  law 
which,  at  the  request  of  the  inhabitants,  Charles  V. 
had  promulgated,  suspending  for  ten  years  the  powers 
of  the  inquisitors  to  judge  in  such  causes  within  the 
island,  yet  a  complaint  was  made  on  the  part  of  the 
familiars,  to  Philip,  then  acting  as  regent  of  the  Span- 
ish dominions,  who  addressed  a  letter  to  the  viceroy, 
exhorting  him,  as  an  obedient  son  of  the  church,  to 
give  satisfaction  to  the  holy  fathers  whom  he  had  of- 
fended. The  consequence  was,  that  the  marquis, 
who  was  grand  constable  and  admiral  of  Naples,  one 
of  the  first  peers  of  Spain,  and  sprung  from  the  royal 
stock  of  Aragon,  felt  himself  obliged  to  do  penance  in 
the  church  of  the  Dominican  monastery,  and  to  pay 
a  hundred  ducats  to  the  catchpolls  of  the  Inquisition, 
whose  vices  he  had  presumed  to  correct.^  During 
the  regency  of  the  prince,  the  Spanish  inquisitors  in 
more  than  one  instance  obtained  the  revival  of  those 
powers  which  had  been  suspended,  as  at  once  inju- 
rious to  the  civil  judicatures  and  to  the  liberties  of  the 
subject.t 

Durhig  tlie  negotiation  in  1557  between  the  court 
of  Spain  and  the  Roman  see,  which  ended  so  disgrace- 
fully to  the  former,  Philip  wrote  to  his  general,  the 

*  Llorente,  ii.  84-88.  t  Puigblanch,  ii.  272. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  189 

duke  of  Alva,  "  that  Rome  was  a  prey  to  great  ca- 
lamities at  the  time  of  his  birth,  and  it  would  be  wrong 
in  him  to  subject  it  to  similiar  evils  at  the  commence- 
ment of  his  reign ;  it  was  therefore  his  will  that  peace 
should  be  speedily  concluded  on  terms  no  way  dis- 
honourable to  his  Holiness;  for  he  would  rather  part 
with  the  rights  of  his  crown  than  touch  in  the  slight- 
est degree  those  of  the  holy  see."*  In  pursuance  of 
these  instructions,  Alva,  as  viceroy  of  Naples,  was 
obliged  to  fall  on  his  knees,  and,  in  his  own  name,  as 
well  as  that  of  his  master  and  the  emperor,  to  beg 
pardon  of  the  pope  for  all  the  offences  specified  in  the 
treaty  of  peace ;  upon  which  they  were  absolved  from 
the  censures  which  they  had  respectively  incurred. 
After  this  ceremony  was  over,  the  haughty  and  grati- 
fied pontiff,  turning  to  the  cardinals,  told  them  "  that 
he  had  now  rendered  to  the  holy  see  the  most  impor- 
tant service  it  would  ever  receive ;  and  that  the  exam- 
ple which  the  Spanish  monarch  had  just  given  would 
teach  popes  henceforth  how  to  abase  the  pride  of 
kings,  who  knew  not  the  extent  of  that  obeisance 
which  they  legitimately  owed  to  the  heads  of  the 
church. "t  With  good  reason  might  Charles  V.  say 
in  his  testament,  when  leaving  his  dying  charge  to 
extirpate  heresy,  "that  he  was  persuaded  the  king  his 
son  would  use  every  possible  effort  to  crush  so  great 
an  evil  with  all  the  severity  and  promptitude  which  it 
required."  J 

Paul  IV.  acceded  with  the  utmost  readiness  to  the 
applications  which  were  now  addressed  to  him  by 

*  Philip  was  not  without  a  precedent  in  using-  such  language. 
When  the  deputies  of  Aragon  petitioned  for  a  reform  on  the  Inqui- 
sition, Charles  V.  answered,  "  that  on  no  account  would  he  forget  his 
soul,  and  that  he  would  lose  part  of  his  dominions  rather  than  permit 
any  thing  to  be  done  therein  contrary  to  the  honour  of  God,  or  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  Office."  (Dormer,  Anales  de  Aragon,  lib.  i. 
cap.  26  :  Puigblanch,  ii.  266,  267.) 

t  The  duke  of  Alva,  who  had  retired  before  this  address,  when  in- 
formed of  it,  is  reported  to  have  said,  that  if  he  had  been  Philip  II., 
cardinal  Caraffa  (Paul  IV.)  should  have  come  to  Brussels,  and  done 
that  obeisance  at  the  feet  of  the  king-  of  Spain,  which  he,  as  viceroy, 
had  done  before  the  pope.     (Llorente,  ii.  J  81-183.) 

t  Sandoval,  Historia  de  la  Vida  y  Hcchos  del  Emperador  Carlos 
V.  torn.  ii.  p.  881. 


190  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Philip,  in  concurrence  with  Valdes,  the  inquisitor  gen- 
eral, for  such  enlargements  of  the  authority  of  the 
Holy  Office  as  would  enable  it  to  compass  the  con- 
demnation of  the  heretics  who  were  in  prison,  and  to 
seize  and  convict  others.  On  the  1 5th  of  February 
1558  he  issued  a  summary  brief,  renewing  all  the  de- 
cisions of  councils  and  sovereign  pontiffs  against  here- 
tics and  schismatics ;  declaring  that  this  measure  was 
rendered  necessary  by  the  information  he  had  receiv- 
ed of  the  daily  and  increasing  progress  of  heresy ;  and 
charging  Valdes  to  prosecute  the  guilty,  and  inflict 
upon  them  the  punishments  decreed  by  the  constitu- 
tions, particularly  that  which  deprived  them  of  all 
their  dignities  and  functions,  "whether  they  were 
bishops,  archbishops,  patriarchs,  cardinals  or  legates, 
barons,  counts,  marquises,  dukes,  princes,  kings  or 
emperors."*  This  sweeping  brief,  from  whose  ope- 
ration none  was  exempted  but  his  Holiness,  was  made 
public  in  Spain  with  the  approbation  of  the  monarch, 
soon  after  he  himself  and  his  father  had  been  threaten- 
ed with  excommunication  and  dethronement.  Valdes, 
in  concurrence  with  the  council  of  the  Supreme,  pre- 
pared instructions  to  all  the  tribunals  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, directing  them,  among  other  things,  to  search  for 
heretical  books,  and  to  make  a  public  auto-de-fe  of 
such  as  they  should  discover,  including  many  works 
not  mentioned  in  any  former  prohibitory  index. t  This 
was  also  the  epoch  of  that  terrible  law  of  Philip  which 
ordained  the  punishment  of  death,  with  confiscation 
of  goods,  against  all  who  sold,  bought,  read,  or  pos- 
sessed, any  book  that  was  forbidden  by  the  Holy  Of- 
fice.:}: To  ferret  the  poor  heretics  from  their  lurking- 
places,  and  to  drive  them  into  the  toils  of  this  bloody 
statute,  Paul  IV.,  on  the  6tli  of  January  1559,  issued 
a  bull,  enjoining  all  confessors  strictly  to  examine  their 
penitents  of  whatever  rank,  from  the  lowest  to  that  of 
cardinal  or  king,  and  to  charge  them  to  denounce  all 
whom  they  knew  to  be  guilty  of  this  offence,  under 
the  pain  of  the  greater  excommunication,  from  which 

*  Llorentc,  ii.  183,  184.  t  Ibid.  i.  468. 

t  Ibid.  p.  470. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  191 

none  but  the  pope  or  the  inquisitor  general  could  re- 
lease them;  and  subjecting  such  confessors  as  neglect- 
ed this  duty  to  the  same  punishment  that  was  threat- 
ened against  their  penitents.*  On  the  following  day 
the  pope  declared,  in  full  consistory,  that  the  heresy 
of  Luther  and  other  innovators  being  propagated  in 
Spain,  he  had  reasons  to  suspect  that  it  had  been  em- 
braced by  some  bishops ;  on  which  account  he  author- 
ized the  grand  inquisitor,  during  two  years  from  that 
day,  to  hold  an  inquest  on  all  bishops,  archbishops, 
patriarchs,  and  primates  of  that  kingdom,  to  com- 
mence their  processes,  and,  in  case  he  had  grounds  to 
suspect  that  they  intended  to  make  their  escape,  to 
seize  and  detain  them,  on  condition  of  his  giving  no- 
tice of  this  immediately  to  the  sovereign  pontiff,  and 
conveying  the  prisoners,  as  soon  as  possible,  to  Rome.t 
As  if  these  measures  had  not  been  calculated  suf- 
ficiently to  multiply  denunciations,  Philip  seconded 
them  by  an  edict  renewing  a  royal  ordinance,  which 
had  fallen  into  desuetude  or  been  suspended,  and 
which  entitled  informers  to  the  fourth  part  of  the  pro- 
perty of  those  found  guilty  of  heresy. J  But  the 
existing  code  of  laws,  even  after  those  which  had 
been  long  disabled  or  forgotten  were  revived,  was  too 
mild  for  the  rulers  of  this  period.  Statutes  still  more 
barbarous  and  unjust  were  enacted.  At  the  request 
of  Philip  and  Valdes,  the  pope,  on  the  4th  of  Febru- 
ary 1559,  gave  forth  a  brief,  authorizing  the  council 
of  the  Supreme,  in  derogation  of  the  standing  laws  of 
the  Inquisition,  to  deliver  over  to  the  secular  arm 
those  who  were  convicted  of  having  taught  the  Lu- 
theran opinions,  even  though  they  had  not  relapsed, 
and  were  willing  to  recant.  It  has  been  justly  ob- 
served, that  though  history  had  had  nothing  else 
with  which  to  reproach  Philip  II.  and  the  inquisitor 
general  Valdes,  than  their  having  solicited  this  bull, 
it  would  have  been  sufficient  to  consign  their  names 
to  infamy.  Neither  Ferdinand  V.  and  Torquemada, 
nor  Charles  V.  and  Manriquez,  had  pushed  matters  to 

*  Llorcnte,  i.  471.  f  Ibid.  iii.  228. 

t  Ibid.  ii.  216-7. 


192  HISTORY    OF    THE 

tliis  length.  They  never  thought  of  burning  aUve,  or 
subjecting  to  capital  punishment,  persons  who  were 
convicted  of  falUng  into  heresy  for  the  first  time,  and 
who  confessed  their  errors ;  nor  did  they  thmk  them- 
selves warranted  to  proceed  to  this  extremity  by  the 
suspicion  that  such  confessions  were  dictated  by  the 
fear  of  death.  This  was  the  last  invention  of  tyran- 
ny, inflamed  into  madness  by  hatred  and  dread  of 
the  truth.  Were  it  necessary  to  point  out  aggrava- 
tions of  this  iniquity,  we  might  state  that  the  punish- 
ment was  to  be  inflicted  for  actions  done  before  the 
law  was  enacted;  and  that  it  was  unblushingly  ap- 
plied to  those  who  had  been  long  immured  in  the 
cells  of  the  Inquisition.^ 

The  next  object  was  to  find  fit  agents  for  carrying 
these  sanguinary  statutes  into  execution.  It  is  one 
of  the  wise  arrangements  of  a  merciful  providence  for 
thwarting  designs  hurtful  to  human  society,  and  for 
inspiring  their  authors  with  the  dread  of  ultimate  dis- 
comfiture, that  Avicked  men  and  tyrants  are  disposed 
to  suspect  the  most  slavish  and  devoted  instruments  of 
their  will.  The  individuals  at  the  head  of  the  inqui- 
sitorial tribunals  of  Seville  and  Valladolid  had  incur- 
red the  suspicions  of  Valdes,  as  guilty  of  culpable 
negligence,  if  not  of  connivance  at  the  Protestants,  who 
had  held  their  conventicles  in  the  two  principal  cities 
of  the  kingdom,  almost  Avitli  open  doors.  To  guard 
against  any  thing  of  this  kind  for  the  future,  and  to 
provide  for  the  multiplicity  of  business  which  the  late 
disclosures  had  created,  he  delegated  his  powers  of  in- 
quisitor general  to  two  individuals,  in  whom  he  could 
place  entire  confidence,  Gonzales  Munebrega,  arch- 
bishop of  Tarragona,  and  Pedro  de  la  Gasca,  arch- 
bishop of  Palencia,  who  fixed  their  residence,  the  for- 
mer at  Seville,  and  the  latter  at  Valladolid,  in  the  cha- 
racter of  vice-inquisitors  general.t  Both  substitutes 
proved  themselves  wortliy  of  the  trust  reposed  in  them ; 
but  the  conduct  of  Munebrega  gratified  the  highest 
expectations  of  Valdes  and  Philip.    When  engaged  in 

*  Llorente,  ii.  215. 

t  Montanus,  p.  90,  91.     Llorente,  ii.  217. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  193 

superintending  the  examinations  of  the  prisoners,  and 
giving  directions  as  to  the  torture  to  which  they  should 
be  put,  he  was  accustomed  to  indulge  in  the  most  pro- 
fane and  cruel  raillery,  saying  that  these  heretics  had 
the  commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour 
as  thyself,"  so  deeply  seated  in  their  hearts,  that  it 
was  necessary  to  tear  the  flesh  from  their  bones,  to 
make  them  inform  against  their  brethren.  During 
the  intervals  of  business,  he  was  to  be  seen  sailing  in 
his  barge  on  the  river,  or  walking  in  the  gardens  of 
the  Triana,  dressed  in  purple  and  silk,  accompanied 
with  a  train  of  servants,  surrounded  by  wretched 
poetasters,  and  followed  by  hired  crowds,  who  at  one 
time  saluted  him  with  their  huzzas,  and  at  another 
insulted  the  Protestants,  whom  they  descried  through 
the  grated  windows  of  the  castle.*  An  anecdote 
which  is  told  of  him,  though  trifling  compared  with 
the  horrors  of  that  time,  deserves  to  be  repeated  as  a 
proof  of  the  insolence  of  oflice,  and  one  among  many 
instances  of  the  shameless  manner  in  which  the  in- 
quisitors converted  their  authority  into  an  instrument 
of  gratifying  their  meanest  passions.  A  servant  of  the 
vice-inquisitor  general  snatched  a  stick  one  day  from 
the  gardener's  son,  who  Avas  amusing  himself  in  one 
of  the  avenues.  The  father,  attracted  by  the  cries  of 
his  child,  came  to  the  spot,  and  having  in  vain  desired 
the  servant  to  restore  the  stick,  wrested  it  from  his 
hand,  which  was  slightly  injured  in  the  struggle.  A 
complaint  was  instantly  made  to  Munebrega;  and 
the  conduct  of  the  gardener  being  found  sufficient  to 
fasten  on  him  a  suspicion  of  heresy  de  levi,  he  was 
thrown  into  prison,  where  he  lay  nine  months  heavi- 
ly ironed.t 

The  reader  will  mistake  very  much,  if  he  suppose 
that  the  holy  fathers  undertook  all  these  extraordi- 
nary services  from  pure  zeal  for  the  truth,  or  under 
the  idea  that  their  superabundant  and  supererogatory 
labours  would  secure  to  them  an  unseen  and  future 
recompense.  If  heretics  were  visited  in  this  life  with 
exemplary  punishment  for  the  sins  of  which  they  had 

*  Montanus,  p.  92,  93.  t  Montanus,  p.  190-192. 


194  HISTORY    OF    THE 

been  guilty,  why  should  not  the  defenders  of  the  faith 
have  "  their  good  things"  in  this  life?  To  meet  the 
expenses  of  this  domestic  crusade,  the  pope  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  inquisitors,  authorized  them  to  appro- 
priate to  their  use  certain  ecclesiastical  revenues,  and 
granted  them,  in  addition,  an  extrordinary  subsidy  of 
a  hundred  thousand  ducats  of  gold,  to  be  raised  by 
the  clergy.  The  bull  issued  for  that  purpose  stated, 
that  the  heresy  of  Luther  had  made  an  alarming  pro- 
gress in  Spain,  where  it  was  embraced  by  many  rich 
and  powerful  individuals ;  that  with  the  view  of  put- 
ting a  stop  to  it,  the  inquisitor  general  had  been 
obliged  to  commit  to  prison  a  multitude  of  suspected 
persons,  to  increase  the  number  of  judges  in  the  pro- 
vincial tribunals,  to  employ  supernumerary  familiars, 
and  to  purchase  and  keep  in  readiness  a  supply  of 
horses  in  the  different  parts  of  the  kingdom  for  the 
pursuit  of  fugitives ;  and  that  the  ordinary  revenue  of 
the  Holy  Office  was  quite  insufficient  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  so  enlarged  an  establishment,  and  at  the 
same  time  to  maintain  such  of  the  prisoners  as  were 
destitute  of  means  to  support  themselves.  Zealous 
as  the  clergy  in  general  were  against  heresy,  they  fret- 
ted exceedingly  against  this  tax  on  their  income;  and 
after  the  Inquisition  had  succeeded  in  exterminating 
the  Lutherans,  it  needed  to  direct  its  thunders,  and 
even  to  call  in  the  assistance  of  the  secular  arm, 
against  certain  refractory  canons,  who  resisted  the 
payment  of  the  sums  in  which  they  had  been  asses- 
sed.* 

While  these  preparations  were  going  on,  it  is  not 
easy  to  conceive,  but  easier  to  conceive  than  describe, 
the  situation  and  feelings  of  the  captive  Protestants. 
To  have  had  the  prospect  of  an  open  trial,  though  ac- 
companied with  the  certainty  of  being  convicted 
and  doomed  to  an  ignominious  death,  would  have 
been  relief  to  their  minds.  But,  instead  of  this,  tliey 
were  condemned  to  a  protracted  confinement,  during 
which  their  melancholy  solitude  was  only  broken  in 
upon  by  attempts  to  bereave  them  of  their  best  con- 

*  Llorentc,  ii.  218. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  195 

solation ;  distracted,  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  entrea- 
ties of  their  disconsolate  friends,  who  besought  them 
to  purchase  their  hves  by  an  early  recantation,  and 
harassed,  on  the  other,  by  the  endless  examinations 
to  which  they  were  subjected  by  their  persecutors; 
assured  to-day  that  they  would  escape  provided  they 
made  an  ingenuous  confession  of  all  they  knew,  and 
told  to-morrow  that  the  confessions  which  they  had 
made  in  confidence  had  only  served  to  confirm  the 
suspicions  entertained  of  their  sincerity;  hearing,  at 
one  time,  of  some  unhappy  individual  who  was  added 
to  their  number,  and  receiving,  at  another  time,  the 
still  more  distressing  intelligence  that  a  fellow-prison- 
er, entangled  by  sophistry,  or  overcome  by  torments, 
had  consented  to  abjure  the  truth.  A  milder  tribunal 
would  have  been  satisfied  with  making  an  example 
of  the  ringleaders,  or  would  have  brought  out  the 
guilty  for  execution  as  soon  as  their  trials  could  be 
overtaken.  The  policy  of  Philip  II.  and  his  inquisi- 
tors was  difi'erent.  They  wished  to  strike  terror  into 
the  minds  of  the  whole  nation,  and  exhibit  to  Europe 
a  grand  spectacle  of  zeal  for  the  catholic  faith,  and 
vengeance  against  heresy.  Filled  with  those  fears 
which  ever  haunt  the  minds  of  tyrants,  they  imagined 
that  heresy  had  spread  more  extensively  than  was 
really  the  case,  and  therefore  sought  to  extort  from 
their  prisoners  such  confessions  as  would  lead  to  the 
discovery  of  those  who  still  remained  concealed,  or 
who  might  be  in  the  slightest  degree  infected  with  the 
new  opinions.  While  they  had  not  the  most  distant 
intention  of  extending  mercy  to  those  who  professed 
themselves  penitent,  and  had  already  procured  a  law 
which  warranted  them  to  withhold  it,  they  were  nev- 
ertheless anxious  to  secure  a  triumph  to  the  catholic 
faith,  by  having  it  in  their  power  to  read,  in  the  pub- 
lic auto-de-fe,  the  forced  retractions  of  those  who  had 
embraced  the  truth.  With  this  view,  the  greater  part 
of  the  Protestants  were  detained  in  prison  for  two, 
and  some  of  them  for  three  years,  during  which  their 
bodily  health  was  broken,  or  their  spirit  subdued,  by 
the  rigour  of  confinement  and  the  severity  of  torture. 


196  HISTORY    OF    THE 

The  consequence  of  this  treatment  was,  that  the  con- 
stancy of  some  of  them  was  shaken,  while  others  end- 
ed their  days  by  a  hngering  and  secret  martyrdom. 

Among  those  of  the  last  class  was  Constantine 
Ponce  de  la  Fuente.  Exposed  as  he  was  to  the  ha- 
tred of  those  who  envied  his  popularity,  and  the  jeal- 
ousy of  those  who  looked  upon  him  as  the  ablest  sup- 
porter of  the  new  opinions,*  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  this  learned  man  could  escape  the  storm  that 
overwhelmed  the  reformed  church  in  Spain.  He  was 
among  the  first  who  were  apprehended,  when  the  fa- 
miliars were  let  loose  on  the  Protestants  of  Seville. t 
When  information  was  conveyed  to  Charles  V.  in  the 
monastery  of  St.  Juste,  that  his  favourite  chaplain  was 
thrown  into  prison,  he  exclaimed,  "If  Constantine  be 
a  heretic,  he  is  a  great  one!"  and  when  assured,  at  a 
subsequent  period,  by  one  of  the  inquisitors,  that  he 
had  been  found  guilty,  he  replied  with  a  sigh,  "  You 
cannot  condemn  a  greater!":}: 

The  joy  which  the  inquisitors  felt  at  obtaining  pos- 
session of  the  person  of  a  man  whom  they  had  long 
eyed  with  jealousy,  was  in  no  small  degree  abated  by 
the  difficulties  which  they  found  in  the  way  of  pro- 
curing his  conviction.  Knowing  the  perilous  circum- 
stances in  which  he  was  placed,  he  had  for  some  time 
back  exercised  the  utmost  circumspection  over  his 
words  and  actions.  His  confidential  friends,  as  we 
have  already  stated,  were  always  few  and  select.  His 
penetration  enabled  him  with  a  single  glance  to  detect 
the  traitor  under  his  mask;  and  his  knowledge  of  hu- 
man nature  kept  him  from  committing  himself  to  the 
weak  though  honest  partisans  ot  the  reformed  faith. 
The  veneration  and  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by 
his  friends  was  so  great,  that  they  Avould  have  died 
sooner  than  compromise  his  safety  by  their  confes- 
sions. When  brought  before  his  judges,  he  maintain- 
ed his  innocence,  challenged  the  public  prosecutor  to 

*   See  before  p.  159-163.  t  Montanus,  p.  287. 

t  Sandoval,  Ilistoria  del  Emperador  Carlos  V.  lom.  ii.  p.  829.  Wlien 
told  of  the  imprisonment  of  Domingo  de  Guzman,  the  emperor  said, 
"They  should  have  confined  him  as  a  fool  I"    (Ibid.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  197 

show  that  he  had  done  any  thing  criminal,  and  repel- 
led the  charges  brought  against  him  with  such  ability 
and  success  as  threw  his  adversaries  into  the  great- 
est perplexity.  There  was  every  probability  that  he 
would  finally  baffle  their  efforts  to  convict  him  of 
heresy,  when  an  unforeseen  occurrence  obliged  him 
to  abandon  the  line  of  defence  which  he  had  hitherto 
pursued.  Dona  Isabella  Martinia,  a  widow  lady  of 
respectability  and  opulence,  had  been  thrown  into 
prison  as  a  suspected  heretic,  and  her  property  confis- 
cated. The  inquisitors  being  informed,  by  the  treach- 
ery of  a  servant  in  the  family,  that  her  son,  Francisco 
Bertran,had  contrived,  before  the  inventory  was  taken, 
to  secrete  certain  coffers  containing  valuable  effects, 
sent  their  alguazil,  Luis  Sotelo,  to  demand  them.  As 
soon  as  the  alguazil  entered  the  house,  Bertran,  in 
great  trepidation,  told  him  he  knew  his  errand,  and 
would  deliver  up  what  he  wanted,  on  condition  that 
he  screened  him  from  the  vengeance  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion. Conducting  the  alguazil  to  a  retired  part  of  the 
building,  and  breaking  down  a  thin  partition-wall, 
he  disclosed  a  quantity  of  books  which  Constantine 
Ponce  had  deposited  with  his  mother  for  the  purpose 
of  security,  some  time  before  his  imprisonment.  So- 
telo signified  that  these  were  not  exactly  what  he 
was  in  search  of,  but  that  he  would  take  charge  of 
them,  along  with  the  coffers  which  he  was  instructed 
to  carry  to  the  Holy  Office.  Dazzling  as  were  the 
jewels  of  Isabella  Martinia,  the  eyes  of  the  inquisitors 
glistened  still  more  at  the  sight  of  the  books  of  Con- 
stantine. On  examining  them,  they  found,  beside  va- 
rious heretical  works,  a  volume  of  his  own  handwri- 
ting, in  which  the  points  of  controversy  between  the 
church  of  Rome  and  the  Protestants  were  discussed  at 
considerable  length.  In  it  the  author  treated  of  the 
true  church  according  to  the  principles  of  Luther  and 
Calvin,  and  by  an  application  of  the  different  marks 
which  the  Scriptures  gave  for  discriminating  it,  show- 
ed that  the  papal  church  had  no  claim  to  the  title.  In 
a  similar  way  he  decided  the  questions  respecting 
justification,  the  merit  of  good  works,  the  sacraments. 


198  HISTORY    OF    THE 

indulgences,  and  purgatory;  calling  this  last  the  wolf ^s 
head,  and  an  invention  of  the  monks  to  feed  idle  bel- 
lies. When  the  volume  was  shown  to  Constantino, 
he  acknowledged  at  once  that  it  was  in  his  handwri- 
ting, and  contained  his  sentiments.  "It  is  unnecessary 
for  you  (added  he)  to  produce  further  evidence:  you 
have  there  a  candid  and  full  confession  of  my  belief. 
I  am  in  your  hands ;  do  with  me  as  seemeth  to  you 
good."* 

No  arts  or  threatenings  could  prevail  on  him  to  give 
any  information  respecting  his  associates.  With  the 
view  of  inducing  the  other  prisoners  to  plead  guilty, 
the  agents  of  the  Holy  Office  circulated  the  report  that 
he  had  informed  against  them  when  put  to  the  ques- 
tion; and  they  even  suborned  witnesses  to  depone 
that  they  had  heard  his  cries  on  the  rack,  though  he 
never  endured  that  inhuman  mode  of  examination. 
By  what  motives  the  judges  were  restrained  from 
subjecting  him  to  it,  is  uncertain.  I  can  only  conjec- 
ture that  it  proceeded  from  respect  to  the  feelings  of 
the  emperor;  for,  soon  after  his  death,  Constantino 
was  removed  from  the  apartment  which  he  had  hither- 
to occupied,  and  thrust  into  a  low,  damp,  and  noisome 
vault,  where  he  endured  more  than  his  brethren  did 
from  the  application  of  the  engines  of  torture.  Op- 
pressed and  worn  out  with  a  mode  of  living  so  differ- 
ent from  what  he  had  been  used  to,  he  was  heard  to 
exclaim,  "  0  my  God,  were  there  no  Scythians,  or 
cannibals,  or  pagans  still  more  savage,  that  thou  hast 
permitted  me  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  these  baptized 
fiends?'^  He  could  not  remain  long  in  such  a  situa- 
tion. Putrid  air  and  unwholesome  diet,  together  with 
grief  for  the  ruhi  of  the  retbrmed  cause  in  his  native 
country,  brought  on  a  dysentery,  which  put  an  end  to 
his  days,  after  he  had  been  nearly  two  years  in  con- 
finement.t 

Not  satisfied  with  wreaking  their  vengeance  on  him 
when  alive,  his  adversaries  circulated  the  report  that 
he  had  put  an  end  to  his  own  life  by  opening  a  vein 

*  Histoirc  dcs  Martyrs,  f.  502,  a.     Montanus,  p.  289,  290. 
t  Montanus,  p.  287-^92.     Llorente,  ii.  275-277. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  199 

with  a  piece  of  broken  glass ;  and  ballads  grounded 
on  this  fabricated  story,  and  containing  other  slanders, 
were  indecently  hawked  through  the  streets  of  Seville. 
Had  there  been  the  least  foundation  for  this  report, 
we  may  be  sure  the  inquisitors  would  have  taken  care 
to  verify  it,  by  ordering  an  inquest  to  be  held  on  the 
dead  body.  But  the  calumny  was  refuted  by  the  tes- 
timony of  a  young  monk  of  San  Isidro,  named  Fer- 
nando, who  being  providentially  confined  in  the  same 
ceil  with  Constantine,  ministered  to  him  during  his 
sickness,  and  closed  his  eyes  in  peace.* 

The  slanders  which  were  at  this  time  so  industri- 
ously propagated  against  him,  only  serve  to  show  the 
anxiety  of  the  inquisitors  to  blast  his  fame,  and  the 
dread  which  they  felt  lest  the  reformed  opinions  should 
gain  credit  from  the  circumstance  of  their  having  been 
embraced  by  a  person  of  so  great  eminence  and  popu- 
larity.t  In  this  object,  however,  they  did  not  succeed 
altogether  to  their  wish.  This  appeared  when  his 
effigy  and  bones  were  brought  out  in  the  public  auto- 
de-fe  celebrated  at  Seville  on  the  22d  of  December 
1560.  The  effigies  of  such  heretics  as  had  escaped 
from  justice,  by  flight  or  by  death,  usually  consisted 
of  a  shapeless  piece  of  patch-work  surmounted  by  a 
head;  that  of  Constantine  Ponce  consisted  of  a  regu- 
lar human  figure,  complete  in  all  its  parts,  dressed 
after  the  manner  in  which  he  appeared  in  public,  and 
representing  him  in  his  most  common  attitude  of 
preaching,  with  one  arm  resting  on  the  pulpit  and 
the  other  elevated.  The  production  of  this  figure  in 
the  spectacle,  when  his  sentence  was  about  to  be 
read,  excited  a  lively  recollection  of  a  preacher  so 
popular,  and  drew  from  the  spectators  an  expression 

*  Cypriano  de  Valeru,  Dos  Tratados,  p.  251,  252.  Montanus,  p. 
291,  292.  Paramo  mentions  the  calumny  hesitatingly.  (Hist.  Inquis. 
lib.  ii.  tit.  iii.  cap.  5;  apud  Puigblanch,  vol.  ii.  p.  210.)  Illescas  states 
it  as  a  mere  report.  (Hist.  Pontif.  tom.  ii.  f.  451,  a.) 

t  The  slanders  referred  to  are  contained  in  the  work  of  Illescas. 
(Historia  Pontifical,  ut  supra.)  But  this  is  no  proof  that  they  were 
believed  by  that  author ;  for,  as  we  shall  afterwards  see,  his  original 
history  was  suppressed,  and  he  was  obliged  to  write  another,  agreea- 
bly to  the  instructions  of  the  inquisitors,  and  to  insert  in  it  statements 
the  very  opposite  of  those  which  he  had  formerly  published. 


200  HISTORY    OF    THE 

of  feeling  by  no  means  pleasing  to  the  inquisitors.  In 
consequence  of  this  they  caused  it  to  be  withdrawn 
from  the  prominent  situation  which  it  occupied,  and 
to  be  brought  near  to  their  own  platform,  where  they 
commenced  the  reading  of  the  articles  of  the  libel  on 
which  Constantine  had  been  condemned.  The  peo- 
ple, displeased  at  this  step,  and  not  hearing  what  was 
read,  began  to  murmur;  upon  which  Calderon,  who, 
as  mayor  of  the  city,  presided  on  the  occasion,  de- 
sired the  acting  secretary  to  go  to  the  pulpit  provided 
for  that  part  of  the  ceremony.  This  intimation  being 
disregarded,  the  murmurs  were  renewed,  and  the 
mayor,  raising  his  voice,  ordered  the  service  to  be 
suspended.  The  inquisitors  were  obliged  to  restore 
the  effigy  to  its  former  place,  and  to  recommence  the 
reading  of  the  sentence  in  the  audience  of  the  people ; 
but  the  secretary  was  instructed,  after  naming  a  few 
of  the  errors  into  which  the  deceased  had  fallen,  to 
conclude  by  saying,  that  he  had  vented  others  so 
horrible  and  impious  that  they  could  not  be  heard 
without  pollution  by  vulgar  ears.  After  this  the 
effigy  was  sent  to  the  house  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
another  of  ordinary  construction  was  conveyed  to  the 
stake  to  be  burnt  along  with  the  bones  of  Constantine. 
The  inquisitors  were  not  a  little  puzzled  how  to  act 
respecting  his  works,  which  had  already  been  printed 
by  their  approbation ;  but  they  at  last  agreed  to  pro- 
hibit them,  "  not  because  they  had  found  any  thing 
in  them  worthy  of  condemnation,"  as  their  sentence 
runs,  "  but  because  it  was  not  fit  that  any  honourable 
memorial  of  a  man  doomed  to  infamy  should  be 
transmitted  to  posterity."*  But  they  had  a  still  more 
delicate  task  to  perform.  The  history  of  a  voyage  to 
Flanders  by  Philip  II.  when  prince  of  Asturias,  had 
been  printed  at  JVEadrid  by  royal  authority,  in  which 
his  chaplain  Constantino  was  described  as  •*  the  great- 
est philosopher,  the  profoundest  divine,  and  the  most 
eloquent  preacher,  who  has  been  in  Spain  for  many 
ages."  Whether  Philip  liimself  gave  information  of 
this  work,  we  know  not;   but  there  can  be  no  doubt 

»  Montanus,  p.  293,  294,  297.    Llorente,  ii.  278,  279. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  201 

that  he  would  have  run  the  risk  of  excommunication 
by  retaining  it  in  his  Ubrary,  after  it  was  stigmatized 
by  the  inquisitorial  censors  of  the  press.  They  ordered 
all  the  copies  of  the  book  to  be  delivered  to  them,  that 
they  might  delete  the  obnoxious  panegyric ;  "  and  on 
this  passage,"  says  one  who  afterwards  procured  a 
copy  of  the  History  in  Spain,  "  the  expurgator  of  the 
book,  which  is  in  my  hands,  was  so  liberal  of  his  ink, 
that  I  had  much  ado  to  read  it."* 

.Constantino  Ponce  was  not  the  only  Protestant  who 
fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  noxious  vapours  and  ordure  of 
the  inquisitorial  prisons.  This  was  also  the  fate  of 
Olmedo,  a  man  distinguished  for  his  learning  and 
piety,  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  inquisitors  at 
Seville,  and  was  often  heard  to  exclaim,  that  there 
was  no  species  of  torture  which  he  would  not  endure 
in  preference  to  the  horrors  of  his  present  situation.! 
Considering  the  treatment  which  the  prisoners  receiv- 
ed, it  is  wonderful  that  many  of  them  were  not  driven 
to  distraction.  One  individual  only,  a  female,  had  re- 
course to  the  desperate  remedy  of  shortening  her  days. 
Juana  Sanchez,  a  beata,  after  having  been  long  kept 
in  prison  at  Valladolid,  was  found  guilty  of  heresy. 
Coming  to  the  knowledge  of  her  sentence  before  it 
was  formally  intimated  to  her,  she  cut  her  throat  with 
a  pair  of  scissors,  and  died  of  the  wound  in  the  coarse 
of  a  few  days.  During  the  interval  every  effort  was 
employed  by  the  friars  to  induce  her,  not  to  repent 
of  the  suicide,  but  to  recant  the  errors  which  she  had 
cherished.  She  repulsed  them  with  indignation,  as 
monsters  equally  devoid  of  humanity  and  religion.^ 

I  must  again  refer  my  readers  to  the  common  his- 
tories of  the  Inquisition,  for  information  as  to  the 
modes  of  torture  and  other  cruel  devices  used  for 
procuring  evidence  to  convict  those  who  were  im- 
prisoned on  a  charge  of  heresy.  One  or  two  instances, 
however,  are  of  such  a  character  that  it  would  be  un- 
pardonable to  omit  them  in  this  place.     Among  the 

*  Geddes,  Miscell.  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  567. 

t  Montanus,  p.  104,  105.  Cypriano  de  Valera,  Dos  Tratados,  p.  250. 

t  Llorente,  ii.  240. 

14 


202  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Protestants  seized  in  Seville  was  the  widow  of  Fer- 
nando Nugnez,  a  native  of  the  town  of  Lepe,  with 
three  of  her  daughters  and  a  married  sister.   As  there 
was  no  evidence  against  them,  they  were  put  to  the 
torture,  but  refused  to  inform  against  one  another. 
Upon  this  the  presiding  inquisitor  called  one  of  the 
young  women  into  the  audience-chamber,  and  after 
conversing  with  her  for  some  time,  professed  an  at- 
tachment to  her  person.     Having  repeated  this  at  an- 
other interview,  he  told  her,  that  he  could  be  of  no 
service  to  her  unless  she  imparted  to  him  the  whole 
facts  of  her  case ;  but  if  she  intrusted  him  with  these, 
he  would  manage  the  affair  in  such  a  way  as  that  she 
and  all  her  friends  should  be  set  at  liberty.     Falling 
into  the  snare,  the  unsuspecting  girl  confessed  to  him 
that  she  had  at  different  times  conversed  with  her 
mother,  sisters,  and  aunt,  on  the  Lutheran  doctrines. 
The  wretch  immediately  brought  her  into  court,  and 
obliged  her  to  declare  judicially  what  she  had  owned 
to  him  in  private.     Nor  was  this  all:  under  the  pre- 
tence that  her  confession  was  not  sufficiently  ample 
and  ingenuous,  she  was  put  to  the  torture  by  the 
most  excruciating  engines,  the  pulley  and  the  wooden 
horse;  by  which  means  evidence  was  extorted  from 
her,  which  led,  not  only  to  the  condemnation  of  her- 
self and  her  relations,  but  also  to  the  seizure  and  con- 
viction  of  others  who   afterwards   perished   in   the 
flames.*     Another  instance  relates  to  a  young  coun- 
tryman of  our  own.     An  English  vessel,  Avhich  had 
entered   the  port  of  St.  Lucar,  was  visited  by  the 
familiars  of  the  Inquisition,  and  several  of  the  crew, 
who,  with  the  frankness  of  British  seamen,  avowed 
themselves  Protestants,  were  seized  before  they  came 
on  shore.     Along  with  them  the  familiars  conveyed 
to  prison  a  boy  of  twelve  years  of  age,  the  son  of  a 
respectable  merchant  to  whom  the  principal  part  of 
the  cargo  belonged.     The  pretext  for  his  apprehen- 

*  Montanus,  p.  82-85.  Llorentc  has  corrected  a  mistake  of  Mon- 
tanus  as  to  the  degrees  of  consanguinity  among  these  female  prisoners, 
and  by  doing  tliis  confirms  the  general  statement  of  the  Protestant 
historian,  while  he  passes  over  some  of  the  aggravating  circumstances 
of  the  case.     (Tom.  ii.  p.  286.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  .203 

sion  was,  that  an  English  psalm-book  was  found  in 
his  portmanteau;  but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that 
the  real  ground  was  the  hope  of  extorting  from  the 
father  a  rich  ransom  for  his  son's  liberation.  Having 
been  piously  educated,  the  youth  was  observed  to  be 
regular  in  his  devotions,  and  to  relieve  the  irksome- 
ness  of  his  confinement  by  occasionally  singing  one 
of  the  psalms  which  he  had  committed  to  memory. 
Both  of  these  were  high  offences;  for  every  piece  of 
devotion  not  conducted  under  the  direction  of  its 
ghostly  agents,  and  even  every  mark  of  cheerfulness 
on  the  part  of  the  prisoners,  is  strictly  prohibited  with- 
in the  gloomy  walls  of  the  Holy  Office.*  On  the  re- 
port of  the  jailer,  the  boy's  confinement  was  rendered 
more  severe ;  in  consequence  of  which  he  lost  the  use 
of  both  his  limbs,  and  it  was  found  necessary,  for  the 
preservation  of  his  life,  to  remove  him  to  the  public 
hospital.t 

So  shameful  were  the  measures  taken  for  procuring 
the  conviction  of  the  prisoners  at  this  time,  that  a  legal 
investigation  of  the  procedure  in  the  inquisitorial  tri- 
bunals was  afterwards  demanded  by  persons  of  great 
respectability  in  the  church.  In  1560,  Senor  Enriquez, 
an  ecclesiastic  of  rank  in  the  collegiate  church  of  Val- 
ladolid,  presented  to  Philip  a  remonstrance  against  the 
Inquisition  of  that  city,  in  which  he  charged  it  with 
tyranny  and  avarice.  Among  other  things  he  assert- 
ed, that  in  the  cause  of  Cazalla  the  officers  had  allow- 
ed the  nuns,  who  like  him  were  imprisoned  for  Lu- 
theranism,  to  converse  together,  that,  by  confirming 
one  another  in  their  errors,  the  judges  might  have  it 
in  their  power  to  condemn  them,  and  thus  to  confis- 
cate their  property.  Having  accomplished  the  object 
which  they  had  in  view,  they  changed  their  measures, 
kept  the  prisoners  apart,  and,  by  examinations  and 
visits,  promises  and  threatenings,  tried  every  method 
to  induce  them  to  recant  and  die  in  the  bosom  of  the 
church,  t 

*  Montanus,  p.  116-7.  t  Ibid.  p.  119-121. 

t  Original  proceedings  against  Cazalla,  taken  from  the  archives  of 
the  tribunal  of  Valladolid:  Puigblanch,  ii.  273.  Llorente,iii.  202-217. 


204  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Nearly  two  years  having  been  spent  in  the  previous 
stepSj  the  time  was  considered  as  come,  according  to 
Spanish  ideas  of  unity  of  action,  for  the  exhibition  of 
the  last  scene  of  the  horrible  tragedy.  Orders  were 
accordingly  issued  by  the  council  of  the  Supreme  for 
the  celebration  of  public  autos-de-fe,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  several  tribunals  of  inquisition  through  the 
kingdom.  Those  which  took  place  in  Seville  and 
Valladolid  were  the  most  noted  for  the  pomp  with 
which  they  were  solemnized,  and  for  the  number  and 
rank  of  the  victims.  Before  describing  these,  it  may 
be  proper  to  give  the  reader  a  general  idea  of  the  na- 
ture of  these  exhibitions,  and  the  order  in  which  they 
were  usually  conducted. 

An  auto-de-fe,  or  act  of  faith,  was  either  particu- 
lar or  general.  In  the  particular  auto,  or  autillo,  as 
it  is  called,  the  offender  appeared  before  the  inquisi- 
tors in  their  hall,  either  alone  or  in  the  presence  of  a 
select  number  of  witnesses,  and  had  his  sentence  inti- 
mated to  him.  A  general  auto,  in  which  a  number 
of  heretics  were  brought  out,  was  performed  with  the 
most  imposing  solemnity,  and  formed  an  imitation 
of  an  ancient  Roman  triumph,  combined  with  the  last 
judgment.*  It  was  always  celebrated  on  a  Sunday 
or  holyday,  in  the  largest  church,  but  more  frequently 
in  the  most  spacious  square,  of  the  town  in  which  it 
happened  to  be  held.  Intimation  of  it  was  publicly 
made  before-hand  in  all  the  churches  and  religious 
houses  in  the  neighbourhood.  The  attendance  of  the 
civil  authorities,  as  well  as  of  the  clergy,  secular  and 
regular,  was  required;  and,  with  the  view  of  attract- 
ing the  multitude,  an  indulgence  of  forty  days  was 
proclaimed  to  all  who  should  witness  the  ceremonies 
of  the  act. 

*  The  last-mentioned  resemblance  is  noticed  in  a  letter  written  by 
a  Moor  in  Spain  to  a  liicnd  in  Africa,  jjiving  him  an  account  of  the 
sufferings  of  his  countrymen  from  the  Inquisition:  "After  this  they 
meet  in  the  square  of  Ilatabin,  and  there  having  erected  a  iarg-e  stage, 
they  make  all  resemble  the  day  of  judgment;  and  he  that  reconciles 
himself  to  them  is  clothed  in  a  yellow  mantle,  and  the  rest  are  carried 
to  the  flames  with  elHgies  and  horrible  figures."  (Marmol,  Historia 
del  Rebelion  del  Reyno  dc  Granada,  lib.  iii.  cap.  S."* 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  205 

On  the  evening  preceding  the  auto,  such  of  the  pri- 
soners as  were  penitent,  and  were  to  suffer  a  punish- 
ment milder  than  death,  were  assembled,  the  males  in 
one  apartment  of  the  prison,  and  the  females  in  an- 
other, when  they  had  their  respective  sentences  inti- 
mated to  them.  At  midnight  a  confessor  entered  the 
cell  of  the  prisoners  who  were  sentenced  to  the  stake, 
and  intimated  to  them  for  the  first  time  the  fate  which 
awaited  them,  accompanying  the  intimation  with  ear- 
nest exhortations  to  recant  their  errors,  and  die  recon- 
ciled to  the  church;  in  which  case  they  obtained  the 
favour  of  being  strangled  before  their  bodies  were 
committed  to  the  flames.  On  such  occasions  the  most 
heart-rending  scenes  sometimes  took  place. 

Early  on  the  following  morning  the  bells  of  all  the 
churches  began  to  toll,  when  the  officials  of  the  Inqui- 
sition repaired  to  the  prison,  and  having  assembled 
the  prisoners,  clothed  them  in  the  several  dresses  in 
which  they  were  to  make  their  appearance  at  the 
spectacle.  Those  who  were  found  suspected  of  hav- 
ing erred  in  a  slight  degree  were  simply  clothed  in 
black.  The  other  prisoners  wore  a  sanbenito,  or 
species  of  loose  vest  of  yellow  cloth,  called  zamarra 
in  Spanish.  On  the  sanbenito  of  those  who  were  to 
be  strangled  were  painted  flames  burning  downwards, 
which  the  Spaniards  called /we^o  revolt o,  to  intimate 
that  they  had  escaped  the  fire.  The  sanbenito  of  those 
who  were  doomed  to  be  burnt  alive  was  covered  with 
figures  of  flames  burning  upwards,  around  which  were 
painted  devils,  carrying  faggots,  or  fanning  the  fire. 
Similar  marks  of  infamy  appeared  on  the  pasteboard 
cap,  called  coroza,  which  was  put  on  their  heads. 
After  this  ceremony  was  over,  they  were  desired  to 
partake  of  a  sumptuous  breakfast,  which,  on  their  re- 
fusal, was  devoured  by  the  menials  of  the  office. 

The  persons  who  were  to  take  part  in  the  ceremony 
being  ail  assembled  in  the  court  of  the  prison,  the 
procession  moved  on,  generally  in  the  following  order. 
Preceded  by  a  band  of  soldiers  to  clear  the  way,  came 
a  certain  number  of  priests  in  their  surplices,  attended 
by  a  company  of  young  persons,  such  as  the  boys  of 


206  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  college  of  Doctrine  in  Seville,  who  chanted  the 
liturgy  in  alternate  choruses.  They  were  followed 
by  the  prisoners,  arranged  in  different  classes  accord- 
ing to  the  degrees  of  their  supposed  delinquencies, 
the  most  guilty  being  placed  last,  having  either  ex- 
tinguished torches  or  else  crosses  in  their  hands,  and 
halters  suspended  from  their  necks.  Every  prisoner 
was  guarded  by  two  familiars,  and,  in  addition  to  this, 
those  who  were  condemned  to  die  were  attended  each 
by  two  friars.  After  the  prisoners  came  the  local  ma- 
gistrates, the  judges,  and  officers  of  state,  accompanied 
by  a  train  of  nobility  on  horseback.  They  were  suc- 
ceeded by  the  secular  and  monastic  clergy.  At  some 
distance  from  these  were  to  be  seen  moving  forward, 
in  slow  and  solemn  pomp,  the  members  of  the  Holy 
Office,  the  persons  who  principally  shared  the  triumph 
of  the  day,  preceded  by  their  fiscal,  bearing  the  stan- 
dard of  the  Inquisition,  composed  of  red  silk  damask, 
on  which  the  names  and  insignia  of  pope  Sixtus  IV. 
and  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  the  founders  of  the  tri- 
bunal, were  conspicuous,  and  surmounted  by  a  cruci- 
fix of  massive  silver,  overlaid  with  gold,  which  was 
held  in  the  highest  veneration  by  the  populace.  They 
were  followed  by  the  familiars  on  horseback,  forming 
their  body-guard,  and  including  many  of  the  princi- 
pal gentry  of  the  country  as  honorary  members.  The 
procession  was  closed  by  an  immense  concourse  of 
the  common  people,  who  advanced  without  any  regu- 
lar order. 

Having  arrived  at  the  place  of  the  auto,  the  inquisi- 
tors ascended  the  platform  erected  for  their  reception, 
and  the  prisoners  were  conducted  to  another  which 
was  placed  opposite  to  it.  The  service  commenced 
with  a  sermon,  usually  preached  by  some  distinguish- 
ed prelate;  after  which  the  clerk  of  the  tribunal  read 
the  sentences  of  the  penitents,  Avho,  on  their  knees, 
and  witii  hands  laid  on  the  missal,  repeated  their  con- 
fessions. The  presiding  inquisitor  then  descended 
from  the  tlirone  on  which  he  sat,  and  advancing  to 
the  altar,  absolved  the  penitents  a  cz^/^;r/,  leaving  them 
under  the  obligation  to  bear  the  several  punishments 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  207 

to  which  they  had  been  adjudged,  whether  these  con- 
sisted of  penances,  banishment,  whipping,  hard  labour, 
or  imprisonment.     He  then  administered  an  oath  to 
all  who  were  present  at  the  spectacle,  binding  them  to 
live  and  die  in  the  communion  of  the  Roman  church, 
and  to  uphold  and  defend,  against  all  its  adversaries, 
the  tribunal  of  the  Holy  Inquisition;  during  which 
ceremony  the  people  were  to  be  seen  all  at  once  on 
their  knees  in  the  streets.     The  more  tragical  part  of 
the  scene  now  followed.    The  sentences  of  those  who 
were  doomed  to  die  having  been  publicly  read,  such 
of  them  as  were  in  holy  orders  were  publicly  degra- 
ded, by  being  stripped,  piece  by  piece,  of  their  priestly 
vestments;  a  ceremony  which  Avas  performed  with 
every  circumstance  calculated  to  expose  them  to  ig- 
nominy and  execration  in  the  eyes  of  the  superstitious 
beholders.     After  this  they  were  formally  delivered 
over  to  the  secular  judges,  to  suffer  the  punishment 
awarded  to  heretics  by  the  civil  law.     It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  the  inquisitors  performed  that  impious 
farce  which  has  excited  the  indignation  of  all  in  whose 
breasts  fanaticism,  or  some  worse  principle,  has  not 
extinguished   every   sentiment   of   common   feeling. 
When  they  delivered  the  prisoner  into  the  hands  of 
the  secular  judges  whom  they  had  summoned  to  re- 
ceive him,  they  besought  them  to  treat  him  with  cle- 
mency and  compassion.*  This  they  did  to  escape  fall- 
ing under  the  censure  of  irregularity/ ,  which  the  can- 
ons of  the  church  had  denounced  against  ecclesiastics 
who  should  be  accessory  to  the  inflicting  of  any  bodi- 
ly injury.     Yet  they  not  only  knew  what  would  be 
the  consequence  of  their  act,  but  had  taken  all  the 
precautions  necessary  for  securing  it.     Five  days  be- 

*  The  Protestant  historian  of  the  Inquisition,  De  Montes,  states 
the  matter  thus :  When  the  person  who  is  relaxed  has  confessed,  the 
inquisitors,  on  delivering  him  to  the  eecular  judges,  "beseech  them 
to  treat  him  with  much  commiseration,  and  not  to  break  a  bone  of 
his  body,  nor  shed  his  blood;"  but  when  he  is  obstinate,  they  "be- 
seech them,  if  he  shall  show  any  symptoms  of  true  repentance,  to 
treat  him  with  much  commiseration,"  &:c.  (Montanus,  p.  148.)  I 
do  not  observe  any  such  distinction  in  the  accounts  of  the  popish  his. 
torians.     (Llorente,  ii.  250-253.    Puigblanch,  i.  279-281.) 


208  HISTORY    OP    THE 

fore  the  auto-de-fe,  they  acquainted  the  ordinarv^  roy- 
al judge  with  the  number  of  prisoners  to  be  deUvered 
over  to  him,  in  order  that  the  proper  quantity  of 
stakes,  wood,  and  every  thing  else  requisite  for  the 
execution,  might  be  in  readiness.  The  prisoners  once 
declared  by  the  inquisitors  to  be  impenitent  or  re- 
lapsed heretics,  nothing  was  competent  to  the  magis- 
trate but  to  pronounce  the  sentence  adjudging  them 
to  the  flames ;  and  had  he  presumed  in  any  instance 
to  change  the  sentence  of  death  into  perpetual  impri- 
sonment, though  it  were  in  one  of  the  remotest  forts 
of  Asia,  Africa,  or  America,  he  would  soon  have  felt 
the  vengeance  of  the  Holy  Office.*  Besides,  the  sta- 
tutes adjudging  heretics  to  the  fire  had  been  confirm- 
ed by  numerous  bulls  of  popes,  which  commanded 
the  inquisitors  to  watch  over  their  exact  observance. 
And  in  accordance  with  this,  they  at  every  auto-de- 
fe,  required  the  magristrates  to  swear  that  they  would 
faithfully  execute  the  sentences  against  the  persons  of 
heretics,  without  delay,  ^'in  the  way  and  manner  pre- 
scribed by  the  sacred  canons,  and  the  laws  which 
treated  on  the  subject."t  Were  it  necessary  to  say 
more  on  this  topic,  we  might  add  that  the  very  ap- 
pearance of  the  prisoners,  when  brought  out  in  the 
public  spectacle,  proclaimed  the  unblushing  hypocrisy 
of  the  inquisitors.  J  They  implored  the  secular  judge 
to  treat  with  lenity  and  compassion  persons  whom  they 
themselves  had  worn  to  skeletons  by  a  cruel  incarce- 
ration— not  to  shed  the  blood  of  him  from  whose 
body  they  had  often  made  the  blood  to  spring,  nor 
to   break   a  bone  of  her  Avhose   tender  limbs  were 

*  Llorente,  ii,  253,  254.     Puigblanch,  i.  350-353. 

t  Puigblanch,  i.  351,  352. 

t  With  the  view  of  preventing  such  appearances  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, the  inquisitors  have  laid  it  down  as  a  rule,  that  no  prisoner  shall 
be  tortured  within  fiflcen  days  of  the  auto-de-fe.  The  Portuguese 
regulation  on  this  head  is  very  plain  in  assigning  the  reason  ;  "  jior 
naO  hireni  os  prczos  a  clle  mostrando  os  sinaes  do  torniento  Iho  daraO 
no  potro."  Yet  their  anxiety  to  obtain  information  often  induces  them 
to  transgress  this  prudential  regulation  :  in  wl)ich  cases  they  have  re- 
course to  the  rack,  which  docs  not  distort  tlie  body  like  the  pulley. 
(Puigblanch,  i.  294.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  209 

already  distorted  and  mangled  by  their  hellish  tor- 
tures!* 

The  penitents  having  been  remanded  to  their  seve- 
ral prisons,  the  other  prisoners  were  led  away  to  exe- 
cution. Some  writers  have  spoken  as  if  they  were 
executed  on  the  spot  where  their  sentence  was  read, 
and  in  the  presence  of  all  who  had  witnessed  the 
preceding  parts  of  the  spectacle.  This  however 
is  a  mistake.  The  stakes  were  erected  without  the 
walls  of  the  town  in  which  the  auto-de-fe  was  cele- 
brated; but  though  the  last  act  was  deemed  too 
horrid  to  be  exhibited  on  the  same  stage  with  those 
which  we  have  described,  yet  it  was  performed 
publicly,  and  was  witnessed,  not  only  by  the  mob, 
but  by  persons  who  from  their  rank  and  station 
might  have  been  expected  to  turn  with  disgust  from 
so  revolting  a  spectacle. 

Seville  contained  by  far  the  greatest  number  of  Pro- 
testants under  confinement;  and  the  long  period  dur- 
ing which  its  prisons  had  been  crowded  gave  it  a 
claim  to  the  benefit  of  the  first  jail-delivery.  Valla- 
dolid,  however,  was  preferred ;  for  no  other  reason, 
apparently,  than  that  it  afforded  the  Inquisition  the 
opportunity  of  exhibiting  the  greatest  proportion  of 
criminals  of  whom  it  could  boast  as  converts  from 
heresy. 

The  first  public  auto-de-fe  of  Protestants  was  ac- 
cordingly celebrated  in  Valladolid  on  the  21st  of  May 
1559,  being  Trinity  Sunday,  in  the  presence  of  Don 
Carlos  the  heir  apparent  to  the  crown,  and  his  aunt 
Juana,  queen  dowager  of  Portugal  and  governess  of 
the  kingdom  during  the  absence  of  her  brother  Philip 
II. ;  attended  by  a  great  concourse  of  persons  of  all 
ranks.  It  was  performed  in  the  grand  square  between 
the  church  of  St.  Francis  and  the  house  of  the  Con- 
sistory. In  the  front  of  the  town-house,  and  by  the 
side  of  the  platform  occupied  by  the  inquisitors,  a  box 
was  erected,  which  the  royal  family  could  enter  with- 

t  The  apologies  made  for  this  hypocritical  deprecation,  not  only  by 
De  Castro  in  the  sixteenth,  but  by  several  writers  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  may  be  seen  in  Puigblanch,  vol.  i.  p.  354-359. 


210  HISTORY    OF    THE 

out  interruption  from  the  crowd,  and  in  which  they 
had  a  full  view  of  the  prisoners.  The  spectacle  con- 
tinued from  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  two  in  the 
afternoon,  during  which  the  people  exhibited  no  symp- 
toms of  impatience,  nor  did  the  queen  retire  until  the 
whole  was  concluded.^  The  sermon  was  preached 
by  the  celebrated  Melchior  Cano,  bishop  of  the  Ca- 
naries ;  the  bishop  of  Palencia,  to  whose  diocese  Val- 
ladolid  at  that  time  belonged,  performed  the  ceremony 
of  degrading  such  of  the  victims  as  were  in  holy  or- 
ders. When  the  company  were  assembled  and  had 
taken  their  places,  Francisco  Baca,  the  presiding  in- 
quisitor, advancing  to  the  bed  of  state  on  which  the 
prince  and  his  aunt  were  seated,  administered  to  them 
the  oath  to  support  the  Holy  Office,  and  to  reveal  to 
it  every  thing  contrary  to  the  faith  which  might  come 
to  their  knowledge,  without  respect  of  persons.  This 
was  the  first  time  that  such  an  oath  had  been  exacted 
from  any  of  the  royal  family ;  and  Don  Carlos,  who 
was  then  only  fourteen  years  of  age,  is  said  from  that 
moment  to  have  vowed  an  implacable  hatred  to  the 
Inquisition. 

The  prisoners  brought  forth  on  this  occasion  amount- 
ed to  thirty,  of  whom  sixteen  were  reconciled,  and 
fourteen  were  "  relaxed,"  or  delivered  over  to  the 
secular  arm.  Of  the  last  class,  two  were  thrown  alive 
into  the  flames,  while  the  remainder  were  previously 
strangled. 

The  greater  part  of  the  first  class  were  persons  dis- 
tinguished by  their  rank  and  connexions.  Don  Pedro 
Sarmiento  de  Roxas,t  son  of  the  first  marquis  de  Poza, 
and  of  a  daughter  of  the  conde  de  Salinas  y  Ribadeo, 
was  stripped  of  his  ornaments  as  chevalier  of  St. 
James,  deprived  of  his  office  as  commander  of  Quin- 
tana,  and  condemned  to  wear  a  perpetual  sanbenito, 
to  be  imprisoned  for  life,  and  to  have  his  memory  de- 

*  Rcn^istcr  appended  to  Skinner's  translation  of  Montanus,  sig.  E. 
i.  b.  E.  ij,  a. 

t  Don  Juan  do  Roxas  Sarmiento,  a  brotlier  of  the  prisoner,  was 
celebrated  as  a  mathematician,  and  addressed  a  consolatory  letter  to 
his  sister  Dona  Elvira  dc  Roxas,  marcliioness  d'Alcagnizcs,  which 
was  printed  at  Louvain  in  151 1. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  211 

clared  infamous.  His  wife  Dona  Mercia  de  Figueroa, 
dame  of  honour  to  the  queen,*  was  sentenced  to  wear 
the  coat  of  infamy,  and  to  be  confined  during  the  re- 
mainder of  her  Ufe.  His  nephew  Don  Luis  de  Roxas, 
eldest  son  of  the  second  marquis  de  Poza,  and  grand- 
son of  the  marquis  d' Alcagnizes,  was  exiled  from  the 
cities  of  Madrid,  Valladolid,  and  Palencia,  forbidden 
to  leave  the  kingdom,  and  declared  incapable  of  suc- 
ceeding to  the  honours  or  estates  of  his  father.  Dona 
Ana  Henriquez  de  Roxas,  daughter  of  the  marquis 
d'Alcagnizes,  and  wife  of  Don  Juan  Alonso  de  Fon- 
seca  Mexia,  was  a  lady  of  great  accomplishments, 
understood  the  Latin  language  perfectly,  and  though 
only  twenty-four  years  of  age,  was  familiar  with  the 
writings  of  the  reformers,  particularly  those  of  Calvin. 
She  appeared  in  the  sanbenito,  and  was  condemned 
to  be  separated  from  her  husband  and  spend  her  days 
in  a  monastery.  Her  aunt  Dona  Maria  de  Roxas,  a 
nun  of  St.  Catherine  in  Valladolid,  and  forty  years  of 
age,  received  sentence  of  perpetual  penance  and  im- 
prisonment, from  which,  however,  she  was  released 
by  an  influence  which  the  inquisitors  did  not  choose 
to  resist. t  Don  Juan  de  UUoa  Pereira,  brother  to  the 
marquis  de  la  Mota,  was  subjected  to  the  same  pun- 
ishment as  the  first-mentioned  nobleman.  This  brave 
chevalier  had  distinguished  himself  in  many  engage- 
ments against  the  Turks  both  by  sea  and  land,  and 
performed  so  great  feats  of  valour  in  the  expeditions 
to  Algiers,  Bugia,  and  other  parts  of  Africa,  that 
Charles  the  Fifth  had  advanced  him  to  the  rank  of 
first  captain,  and  afterwards  of  general.  Having  ap- 
pealed to  Rome  against  the  sentence  of  the  inquisi- 
tors, and  represented  the  services  which  he  had  done 
to  Christendom,  De  UUoa  was  eventually  restored  to 

*  Skinner  says  she  was  "one  of  the  maydcs  of  honour  to  the 
queene  of  Boh  em  e." 

t  "This  Donna  Maria  (de  Rojas)  was  intirely  beloved  of  king' 
Phillip's  sister  the  queene  of  Portugal),  by  whose  meanes  and  pro- 
curement she  was  released  for  wearyng  the  Sambenite,  and  restored 
immediately  into  her  cloyster  agayne,  whereat  the  inquisitours  greatly 
repyned."  (Register  appended  to  Skinner's  translation  of  Montanus, 
sig.  E.  ij.  a.) 


212  HISTORY    OF    THE 

his  rank  as  commander  of  the  order  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem.  Juan  de  Vibero  Cazalla,  his  wife  Dona 
Silva  de  Ribera,  his  sister  Dona  Constanza,  Dona 
Francisca  Zunega  de  Baeza,  Marina  de  Saavedra  the 
widow  of  a  hidalgo  named  Juan  Cisneros  de  Soto, 
and  Leanor  de  Cisneros,  (whose  husband  Antonio 
Herezuelo  was  doomed  to  a  severer  punishment) 
with  four  others  of  inferior  condition,  were  condemn- 
ed to  wear  the  sanbenito,  and  be  imprisoned  for  life. 
The  imprisonment  of  Anthony  Wasor,  an  English- 
man, and  servant  to  Don  Luis  de  Roxas,  was  restrict- 
ed to  one  year's  confinement  in  a  convent.  Confisca- 
tion of  property  was  an  article  in  the  sentence  of  all 
these  persons.* 

Among  those  who  were  delivered  over  to  the  secu- 
lar arm,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  was  Doctor  Au- 
gustin  Cazalla.t  His  reputation,  and  the  office  he  had 
held  as  chcfplain  to  the  late  emperor,  made  him  an 
object  of  particular  attention  to  the  inquisitors.  Dur- 
ing his  confinement  he  underwent  frequent  examina- 
tions, with  the  view  of  establishing  the  charges  against 
himself  and  his  fellow-prisoners.  Cazalla  was  deficient 
in  the  courage  which  was  requisite  for  the  situation 
into  which  he  had  brought  himself.  On  the  4th  of 
March  1559  he  was  conducted  into  the  place  of  tor- 
ture, when  he  shrunk  from  the  trial,  and  promising 
to  submit  to  his  judges,  made  a  declaration,  in  which 
he  confessed  that  he  had  embraced  the  Lutheran  doc- 
trine, but  denied  that  he  had  ever  taught  it,  except  to 
those  who  were  of  the  same  sentiments  with  himself. 
This  answered  all  the  wishes  of  the  inquisitors,  who 
were  determined  that  he  should  expiate  liis  oflence 
by  death,  at  the  same  time  that  they  kept  him  in  sus- 
pense as  to  his  fate,  with  the  view  of  procuring  from 
him  additional  information.  On  the  evening  before 
the  auto-de-fe,  Antonio  de  Carrera,  a  monk  of  St. 
Jerome,  being  sent  to  acquaint  him  with  his  sentence, 
Cazalla  begged  earnestly  to  know,  if  he  might  enter- 

*  Llorcntc,  ii.  228-233.    Register  appended  to  Skinner's  translation 
of  Montanus,  sig.  E.  ij.  a. 
t  Sec  before  p.  171. 


REFORMATION    IN     SPAIN.  213 

tain  hopes  of  escaping  capital  punishment;  to  which 
Carrera  repUed,  that  the  inquisitors  could  not  rely  on 
his  declarations,  but  that,  if  he  would  confess  all  that 
the  witnesses  had  deponed  against  him,  mercy  might 
perhaps  be  extended  to  him.     This  cautious  reply 
convinced  Cazalla  that  his  doom  was  fixed.     "  Well, 
then,'^  said  he,  ^^  I  must  prepare  to  die  in  the  grace  of 
God;  for  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  add  to  what  I  have 
said,  without  falsehood."     He  confessed  himself  to 
Carrera  that  night  and  next  morning.     On  the  scaf- 
fold, seeing  his  sister  Constanza  passing  among  those 
who  were  sentenced  to  perpetual  imprisonment,  he 
pointed  to  her,  and  said  to  the  princess  Juana,  "  I 
beseech  your  highness,  have  compassion  on  this  un- 
fortunate woman,  who  has  thirteen  orphan  children !" 
At  the  place  of  execution,  he  addressed  a  few  words 
to  his  fellow-prisoners,  in  the  character  of  a  penitent, 
in  virtue  of  which  he  obtained  the  poor  favour  of  be- 
ing strangled  before  his  body  was  committed  to  the 
fire.     His  confessor  was  so  pleased  with  his  beha 
viour  as  to  say,  he  had  no  doubt  Cazalla  was  in  hea- 
ven.^    His  sister  Dona  Beatriz  de  .Vibero,  Doctor 
Alonso  Perez,  a  priest  of  Palencia,  Don  Christobal  de 
Ocampo,  chevalier  of  the  order  of  St.  John  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  almoner  to  the  grand  prior  of  Castile,  Don 
Christobal  de  Padilla,  and  seven  others,  shared  the 
same  fate  as  Cazalla.    Among  these  were  the  husband 
of  the  woman  who  had  informed  against  the  Protest- 
ant conventicle  in  Valladolid,  and  four  females,  one 
of  whom,  Dona  Catilina  de  Ortega,  was  daughter-in- 
law  to  the  fiscal  of  the  royal  council  of  Castile. t   They 

*  Llorente,  ii.  222-225.  If  we  may  believe  Illescas,  or  rather  his 
interpolators,  Cazalla  confessed,  to  the  great  edification  of  those  who 
heard  him,  that  in  embracing  the  new  opinions  he  had  been  actuated 
by  ambition  and  a  desire  to  have  his  followers  in  Spain  called  Cazal- 
lites,  as  those  of  the  same  sentiments  were  called  Lutherans  in  Ger- 
many, Zuinglians  in  Switzerland,  and  Hugonots  in  France.  (Hist. 
Pontif  torn.  ii.  f.  450,  b.) 

t  "  Donna  Katalina  de  Ortega,  in  common  reputation  a  widow, 
daughter  to  the  fischal,  the  king's  atturney  in  the  court  of  Inquisi- 
tion, and  at  that  time  a  chief  counccllour  to  the  high  inquisitour, 
howbcit  she  was  privily  contracted  and  maried  to  the  same  Doct. 
Cazalla."  (Register  appended  to  Skinner's  translation  of  Montanus, 
sig.  E.  i.  a.) 


214  HISTORY    OF    THE 

were  all  Protestants,  except  Gonzales  Baez,  a  Portu- 
guese, who  was  condemned  as  a  relapsed  Jew.* 

The  two  individuals  who  on  this  occasion  had  the 
honour  to  endure  the  flames  were  Francisco  de  Vibero 
Cazalla,t  parish  priest  of  Hormigos,  and  Antonio  He- 
rezuelo,  an  advocate  of  Toro.  Some  writers  say  that 
the  former  begged,  when  under  the  torture,  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  reconciliation ;  but  it  is  certain  that  he  gave 
no  sign  of  weakness  or  a  wish  to  recant  on  the  day  of 
the  auto-de-fe.  Seeing  his  brother  Augustin  Cazalla, 
not  at  the  stake,  but  on  the  adjoining  scaffold  among 
the  penitents,  and  being  prevented  from  speaking  by 
the  gag,  he  signified  his  sorrow  by  an  expressive  mo- 
tion of  his  hands;  after  which  he  bore  the  fire  with- 
out shrinking.  Herezuelo  conducted  himself  with 
surpassing  intrepidity.  From  the  moment  of  his  ap- 
prehension to  that  of  his  death,  he  never  exhibited  the 
least  symptom  of  a  wish  to  save  his  life,  or  to  mitigate 
his  sufferings,  by  compromising  his  principles.  His 
courage  remained  unshaken  amidst  the  horrors  of  the 
torture,  the  ignominy  of  the  public  spectacle,  and  the 
terrors  of  the  stake.  The  only  thing  that  moved  him, 
on  the  day  of  the  auto-de-fe,  was  the  sight  of  his  wife 
in  the  garb  of  a  penitent;  and  the  look  which  he  gave, 
(for  he  could  not  speak)  as  he  passed  her  to  go  to  the 
place  of  execution,  seemed  to  say,  "  This  is  hard  to 
bear!"  He  listened  without  emotion  to  the  friars  who 
teazed  him  with  their  importunate  exhortations  to  re- 
pent, as  they  conducted  him  to  the  stake ;  but  when, 
at  their  instigation,  his  former  associate  and  instruc- 
tor, Doctor  Cazalla,  began  to  address  him  in  the  same 
strain,  he  threw  upon  him  a  glance  of  disdain,  which 
froze  the  words  on  his  recreant  lips.  "  The  bachelor 
Herezuelo  (says  the  popish  author  of  the  Pontifical 
History)  suffered  himself  to  be  burnt  alive  with  un- 
paralleled hardihood.    I  stood  so  near  him  that  I  had 

*  Ibid.     Llorcnte,  ii.  222-228. 

t  Llorcnte,  ii.  225-G.  "  Francisco  dc  Vibero,  a  priest,  brother  to 
the  same  D.  Cazalla,  having  his  tong  pinched  betwixt  a  clcftc  stickc, 
because  he  rcmayncd  most  constant  in  the  open  profession  of  iiis 
fayth."     (Register,  ut  supra.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  215 

a  complete  view  of  his  person,  and  observed  all  his 
motions  and  gestures.  He  could  not  speak,  for  his 
mouth  was  gagged  on  account  of  the  blasphemies 
which  he  had  uttered;  but  his  whole  behaviour  show- 
ed him  to  be  a  most  resolute  and  hardened  person, 
who,  rather  than  yield  to  believe  with  his  companions, 
was  determined  to  die  in  the  flames.  Though  I  mark- 
ed him  narrowly,  I  could  not  observe  the  least  symp- 
tom of  fear,  or  expression  of  pain ;  only,  there  was  a 
sadness  in  his  countenance  beyond  any  thing  I  had 
ever  seen.  It  was  frightful  to  look  in  his  face,  when 
one  considered  that  in  a  moment  he  would  be  in  hell 
with  his  associate  and  master,  Luther.*  Enraged  to 
see  such  courage  in  a  heretic,  one  of  the  guards  plung- 
ed his  lance  into  the  body  of  Herezuelo,  whose  blood 
was  licked  up  by  the  flames  with  which  he  was  al- 
ready enveloped.t 

Herezuelo  and  his  wife,  Leanor  de  Cisneros,  were 
divided  in  their  death,  but  it  was  in  the  time  of  it  only, 
not  the  kind  or  manner;  and  their  memory  must  not 
be  divided  in  our  pages.  Leanor  was  only  twenty- 
two  years  of  age  when  she  was  thrown  into  the  In- 
quisition; and  when  we  consider  that,  during  her  im- 
prisonment, she  was  precluded  from  all  intercourse 
with  her  husband,  kept  in  ignorance  of  his  resolutions, 
and  perhaps  deceived  into  the  belief  that  she  would 
find  him  among  the  class  of  penitents  in  the  auto,  we 
need  not  wonder  that  one  of  her  tender  sex  and  age 
should  have  fainted  in  the  day  of  trial,  suftered  herself 
to  be  overcome  by  the  persuasions  of  the  monks,  or, 
yielding  to  the  feelings  of  nature,  consented  to  re- 
nounce with  the  hand  that  truth  which  she  continued 
to  believe  with  the  heart.  Such  assaults  have  shaken, 
and  threatened  to  throw  to  the  ground,  pillars  in  the 
church.  But  Leanor  was  not  long  in  recovering  from 
the  shock.  The  parting  look  of  her  husband  never 
departed  from  her  eyes;:}:  the  reflection  that  she  had 

*  Illescas,  Hist.  Pontif.  torn.  ii.  f.  450,  b. 

t  Register  appended  to  Skinner's  translation  of  Montanus,  sig.  E. 
i.  b.     Liorente,  ii.  227,  231. 

t  Liorente  has  adopted  the  monkish  slander,  that  Herezuelo,  on 
descending  from  the  scaffold,  seeing  his  wife  in  the  dress  of  a  peni- 


216  HISTORY    OF    THE 

inflicted  a  pang  on  his  heart,  during  the  arduous  con- 
flict which  he  had  to  maintain,  fanned  the  flame  of 
attachment  to  the  reformed  religion  which  secretly 
burned  in  her  breast;  and  having  resolved,  in  depend- 
ence on  that  strength  which  is  made  perfect  in  weak- 
ness, to  emulate  the  example  of  constancy  set  by  one 
in  every  respect  so  dear  to  her,  she  resolutely  broke 
off  the  course  of  penance  on  which  she  had  entered. 
The  consequence  of  this  was,  that  she  was  again 
thrown  into  the  secret  prisons.  During  eight  years 
that  she  was  kept  in  confinement,  every  efl'ort  was 
made  in  vain  to  induce  her  to  renew  her  recantation. 
At  last  she  was  brought  out  in  a  public  auto-de-fe 
celebrated  at  Valladolid;  and  we  have  the  account  of 
her  behaviour  from  the  same  pen  which  so  graphically 
described  that  of  her  husband.  "In  the  year  1568, 
on  the  26th  of  September,  justice  was  executed  on 
Leanor  de  Cisneros,  widow  of  the  bachelor  Herezuelo. 
She  suffered  herself  to  be  burnt  alive,  notwithstanding 
the  great  and  repeated  exertions  made  to  bring  her  to 
a  conviction  of  her  errors.  Finally,  she  resisted,  what 
was  suflicient  to  melt  a  stone,  an  admirable  sermon 
preached,  at  the  auto  of  that  day,  by  his  exceUency 
Don  Juan  Manuel,  bishop  of  Zamora,  a  man  no  less 
learned  and  eloquent  in  the  pulpit  than  illustrious  in 
blood.  But  nothing  could  move  the  impenetrable 
heart  of  that  obstinate  woman."* 

One  part  of  the  solemnities  in  the  first  auto  at  Valla- 
dolid, though  not  so  shocking  to  the  feelings  as  some 
others  which  have  been  related,  was  nevertheless  a 
flagrant  violation  both  of  justice  and  humanity.  Dona 
liCanor  de  Vibero,  the  mother  of  Doctor  Cazalla  and 
of  four  other  children  who  appeared  as  criminals  in 
this  auto-de-fe,  had  died  some  years  before,  and  was 
buried  in  a  sepulchral  chapel  of  which  she  was  the 
proprietress.  No  suspicion  of  heresy  attached  to  her 
at  the  time  of  her  death;  but,  on  the  imprisonment  of 

tent,  expressed  his  indignation  at  her  conduct  by  kicking  licr  witii 
his  foot.  (Tom.  ii.  p.  2.31.)  Illcscas,  who  has  given  a  minute  account 
of  the  behaviour  of  both  parties,  takes  no  notice  of  any  thing  of  this 
nature,  which  is  irreconcihible  with  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 
*  Illescas,  Hist.  Pontif.  torn.  ii.  f.  451,  a. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  217 

her  children,  the  fiscal  of  the  Inquisition  at  Valladolid 
commenced  a  process  against  her;  and  certain  wit- 
nesses under  the  torture  having  deponed  that  her  house 
was  used  as  a  temple  for  the  Lutherans,  sentence  was 
passed,  declaring  her  to  have  died  in  a  state  of  heresy, 
her  memory  to  be  infamous,  and  her  property  confis- 
cated; and  ordering  her  bones  to  be  dug  up,  and, 
together  with  her  effigy,  publicly  committed  to  the 
flames ;  her  house  to  be  razed,  the  ground  on  which 
it  stood  to  be  sown  with  salt,  and  a  pillar,  with  an  in- 
scription stating  the  cause  of  its  demolition,  to  be  erect- 
ed on  the  spot.  All  this  was  done,  and  the  last-men- 
tioned monument  of  fanaticism  and  ferocity  against  the 
dead  was  to  be  seen  until  the  year  1S09,  when  it  was  re- 
moved during  the  occupation  of  Spain  by  the  French.* 

There  were  still  a  great  number  of  Protestant  pri- 
soners in  Valladolid ;  but  though  the  processes  of  most 
of  them  were  terminated,  they  were  kept  in  confine- 
ment, to  afford  a  gratifying  spectacle  to  the  monarch 
on  his  arrival  from  the  Low  Countries.  The  second 
auto-de-fe  in  this  city  was  celebrated  on  the  8th  of 
October,  1559.  Philip  II.  appeared  at  it,  attended  by 
his  son,  his  sister,  the  prince  of  Parma,  three  ambas- 
sadors from  France,  with  a  numerous  assemblage  of 
prelates,  and  nobility  of  both  sexes.  The  inquisitor 
general  Valdes  administered  the  oath  to  the  king;  on 
which  occasion  Philip,  rising  from  his  seat,  and  draw- 
ing his  sword  in  token  of  his  readiness  to  use  it  in  sup- 
port of  the  Holy  Office,  swore  and  subscribed  the  oath, 
which  was  afterwards  read  aloud  to  the  people  by  one 
of  the  officers  of  the  Inquisition. 

Twenty-nine  prisoners  appeared  on  the  scaffold,  of 
whom  sixteen  wore  the  garb  of  penitents,  while  the 
flames  painted  on  the  sanbenitos  and  corozas  of  the 
remainder  marked  them  out  for  the  stake.  Among 
the  former  were  Dona  Isabella  de  Castilla,  wife  of 
Don  Carlos  de  Seso,  her  niece  Dona  Catalina,  and 
three  nuns  of  St.  Belen.t     The  first  two  were  con- 

*  Cypriano  de  Valera,  Dos  Tratados,  p.  251.     Llorente,  ii,  221-2. 

t  Another  nun  of  that  order,  Dona  Catalina  de  Reynoza,  daugliter 

of  the  baron  de  Auzillo,  and  sister  of  the  bishop  of  Cordova,  was  de- 

15 


218  HISTORY    OF    THE 

demned  to  lose  all  their  property,  to  wear  the  sanbe- 
nito,  and  be  imprisoned  during  life.  To  the  Lutherans 
subjected  to  penances  were  added  two  men,  one  of 
whom  was  convicted  of  having  sworn  falsely  that  a 
child  had  been  circumcised,  with  the  view  of  bringing 
the  father  to  the  stake ;  the  other  of  having  personated 
an  alguazil  of  the  Holy  Office.  The  former  was  sen- 
tenced to  receive  two  hundred  lashes,  to  lose  the  half 
of  his  property,  and  to  work  in  the  galleys  for  five 
years;  the  latter  to  receive  four  hundred  lashes,  to 
lose  the  whole  of  his  property,  and  to  work  in  the 
galleys  for  life ; — a  striking  specimen  of  the  compara- 
tive estimate  which  the  Inquisition  forms  of  meditated 
murder,  and  an  insult  on  its  own  prerogatives. 

At  the  head  of  those  devoted  to  death  was  Don  Car- 
los de  Seso,  with  whose  name  the  reader  is  already 
acquainted.*  Arrested  at  Logrono,  he  was  thrown 
into  the  secret  prisons  of  the  Inquisition  at  Valladolid ; 
and,  on  the  28th  of  June  1558,  answered  the  inter- 
rogatories of  the  fiscal.  His  conduct  during  the  whole 
of  his  imprisonment,  and  in  the  formidable  scene  by 
which  it  terminated,  was  worthy  of  his  noble  charac- 
ter, and  the  active  part  he  had  taken  in  the  cause  of 
religious  reform.  In  the  examinations  wliich  he  un- 
derwent, he  never  varied,  nor  sought  to  excuse  him- 
self by  affixing  blame  to  those  Avhom  he  knew  his 
judges  were  anxious  to  condemn.t  When  informed 
of  his  sentence  on  the  night  before  his  execution,  he 
called  for  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  and  having  written  a 
confession  of  his  faith,  gave  it  to  the  officer,  saying, 
"  This  is  the  true  faith  of  the  gospel,  as  opposed  to 
that  of  the  church  of  Rome  which  has  been  corrupted 
for  ages:  in  this  faith  I  wish  to  die,  and  in  the  remem- 
brance and  lively  belief  of  the  passion  of  Jesus  Christ, 

livercd  to  the  secular  arm.  She  was  only  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
and  was  charged  with  having  said  to  tlio  sisters,  when  engaged  in 
their  monkish  devotions,  "  Cry  aloud,  that  Baal  may  hear  you ;  break 
your  heads,  and  see  if  he  will  lieal  them."  (Register  appended  to  the 
translation  of  Montanus,  sig.  E.  ij.  b.     Llorcntc,  ii.  241.) 

*  See  before,  p.  175. 

t  This  appears  from  his  answers  on  the  trial  of  archbishop  Car- 
ranza.     (LJorentc,  iii.  204.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  219 

to  offer  to  God  my  body  now  reduced  so  low."  "  It 
would  be  difficult  (says  one  who  read  this  document 
in  the  archives  of  the  Inquisition)  to  convey  an  idea 
of  the  uncommon  vigour  of  sentiment  with  which  he 
filled  two  sheets  of  paper,  though  he  was  then  in  the 
presence  of  death."*  The  whole  of  that  night  and 
next  morning  was  spent  by  the  friars  in  ineffectual 
attempts  to  induce  him  to  recant.  He  appeared  in  the 
procession  with  a  gag  in  his  mouth,  which  remained 
while  he  was  in  the  auto-de-fe,  and  on  the  way  to 
the  place  of  execution.  It  was  removed  after  he  was 
bound  to  the  stake,  and  the  friars  began  again  to  ex- 
hort him  to  confess.  He  replied,  in  a  loud  voice,  and 
with  great  firmness,  "  I  could  demonstrate  to  you  that 
you  ruin  yourselves  by  not  imitating  my  example; 
but  there  is  no  time.  Executioners  light  the  pile 
which  is  to  consume  me."  They  obeyed,  and  De 
Seso  expired  in  the  flames  without  a  struggle  or  a 
groan.     He  died  in  the  forty-third  year  of  his  age.t 

Pedro  de  Cazalla,  parish  priest  of  Pedrosa,  when 
arrested  on  the  25th  of  April,  1558,  confessed  that  he 
had  embraced  the  Protestant  doctrines.  Having  af- 
terwards supplicated  reconciliation,  he  could  obtain 
only  two  votes  in  the  court  of  Inquisition  for  a  pun- 
ishment milder  than  death,  and  the  decision  of  the 
majority  was  confirmed  by  the  council  of  the  Su- 
preme. He  refused  to  make  confession  to  the  priest 
sent  to  intimate  his  sentence,  and  appeared  in  the 
auto  with  the  gag;  but  after  he  was  bound  to  the 
stake,  having  asked,  or  the  attendant  monks  having 
represented  him  as  asking  a  confessor,  he  was  stran- 
gled and  then  cast  into  the  fire.  He  was  only  in  the 
thirty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

Domingo  de  Roxas,  son  of  the  marquis  de  Poza, 
two  of  whose  children  appeared  in  the  former  auto, 
was  seized,  in  the  garb  of  a  laic,  at  Calahorra,  where 
he  had  stopped,  in  his  flight  to  the  Low  Countries,  in 
order  to  have  an  interview  with  his  friend  De  Seso. 
Subsequently  to  the  13th  of  May,  1558,  when  he 
made  his  first  appearance  before  the  Inquisition,  he 

*  Llorente,  ii.  236.  t  Llorente,  ii.  237. 


220  HISTORY    OF    THE 

underwent  frequent  examinations.  The  inquisitors 
having  ordered  the  torture  to  be  administered  with 
the  view  of  extorting  from  him  certain  facts  which 
they  were  anxious  to  possess,  he  promised  to  tell  all 
he  knew,  provided  they  would  spare  him  the  horrors 
of  the  question,  which  he  dreaded  more  than  death. 
Deluded  by  the  prospect  of  a  merciful  sentence  which 
was  held  out  to  him,  he  was  induced  to  make  certain 
professions  of  sorrow,  and  to  throw  out  insinuations 
unfavourable  to  the  cause  of  archbishop  Carranza^ 
but  as  soon  as  he  was  undeceived,  he  craved  an  au- 
dience of  the  inquisitors,  at  which  he  did  ample  jus- 
tice to  that  prelate,  without  asking  any  mitigation  of 
his  own  punishment.  On  the  night  before  his  execu- 
tion he  refused  the  services  of  the  priest  appointed  to 
wait  on  him.  When  the  ceremonies  of  the  auto  were 
finished,  and  the  secular  judge  had  pronounced  sen- 
tence on  the  prisoners  delivered  over  to  him,  De 
Roxas,  in  passing  the  royal  box,  made  an  appeal  to 
the  mercy  of  the  king.  "  Canst  thou,  Sire,  thus  wit- 
ness the  torments  of  thy  innocent  subjects?  Save  us 
from  so  cruel  a  death. '^  "  No,"  replied  Philip  sternly, 
"  I  would  myself  carry  wood  to  burn  my  own  son, 
Avere  he  such  a  wretch  as  thou." "  De  Roxas  was 
about  to  say  something  in  defence  of  himself  and  his 
fellow-sufferers,  when,  the  unrelenting  despot  waving 
his  hand,  the  officers  instantly  thrust  the  gag  into  the 
martyr's  mouth.  It  remained,  contrary  to  the  usual 
custom,  after  he  was  bound  to  the  stake;  so  much 
were  his  judges  irritated  at  his  boldness,  or  afraid  of 
the  liberties  he  would  use.  Yet  we  are  told,  that 
when  the  fire  was  about  to  be  applied  to  the  pile,  his 
courage  failed,  he  begged  a  confessor,  and  having  re- 
ceived absolution,  was  strangled.  Such  appears  to  be 
the  account  of  his  last  moments  inserted  in  the  re- 
cords of  the  Inquisition  ;t  but  private  letters,  written 

*  Colmcnarcs,  in  liis  Ilistoria  de  Segovia,  quoted  by  Puigblaneh, 
(ii.  142.)  represents  Don  Carlos  de  Scso  as  making  a  similar  address 
to  Philip,  and  receiving  a  similar  reply ;  but,  according  to  Llorente's 
account,  that  nobleman  wore  the  gag  during  the  whole  of  the  auto- 
de.fe. 

t  Llorentc,  ii.  239. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  221 

from  Spain  at  the  time,  give  a  different  representa- 
tion :  "  They  carried  him  from  the  scaffold  accom- 
panied with  a  number  of  monks,  about  a  hundred, 
tlocking  about  him,  raihng  and  making  exclamations 
against  him,  and  some  of  them  urging  him  to  recant ; 
but  he,  notwithstanding,  answered  them  with  a  bold 
spirit,  that  he  would  never  renounce  the  doctrine  of 
Christ."* 

Juan  Sanchez,  at  the  commencement  of  the  perse- 
cution of  the  Protestants  in  Valladolid,  had  made  his 
escape  to  the  Low  Countries,  under  the  assumed  name 
of  Juan  de  Vibar.  Thinking  himself  safe,  he  wrote 
letters,  dated  from  Castrourdiales  in  the  month  of 
May  1558,  and  addressed  to  Dona  Catalina  Hortega, 
in  whose  family  he  had  formerly  resided.  That  lady 
having  been  seized  as  a  suspected  Lutheran,  the  let- 
ters fell  into  the  hands  of  the  inquisitors,  who  sent  in- 
formation to  Philip,  then  at  Brussels.  Sanchez  was 
apprehended  at  Turlingen,  conveyed  to  Valladolid, 
and  delivered  over  to  the  secular  magistrate  as  a  dog- 
matising and  impenitent  heretic.  The  gag  was  taken 
from  his  mouth  at  the  place  of  execution,  but  as  he 
did  not  ask  for  a  confessor,  the  pile  was  kindled. 
When  the  fire  had  consumed  the  ropes  by  which  he 
was  bound,  he  darted  from  the  stake,  and  uncon- 
sciously leaped  on  the  scaffold  used  for  receiving  the 
confessions  of  those  who  recanted  in  their  last  mo 
ments.  The  friars  instantly  collected  to  the  spot,  and 
urged  him  to  retract  his  errors.  Recovering  from  his 
momentary  delirium,  and  looking  around  him,  he  saw 
on  the  one  side  some  of  his  fellow-prisoners  on  their 
knees  doing  penance,  and  on  the  other  Don  Carlos  de 
Seso  standing  unmoved  in  the  midst  of  the  flames, 
upon  which  he  walked  deliberately  back  to  the  stake, 
and  calling  for  more  fuel,  said,  ^'  I  will  die  like  de 
Seso."  Incensed  at  what  they  considered  as  a  proof 
of  audacious  impiety,  the  archers  and  executioners 

*  Register  appended  to  Skinner's  translation  of  Montanus,  sigf.  E. 
ij.  b.  Sepulveda  mentions  De  Roxas  among-  those  who  were  "  thrown 
alive  into  the  flames,  because  they  persevered  in  error."  (De  Rebus 
gestis  Philippi  II.  lib.  ii.  cap.  xxvii.  p.  60:  Opera,  torn,  iii.) 


222  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Strove  who  should  first  comply  with  his  request.    He 
died  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  age. 

The  case  of  Dona  Marina  Guevara,  a  nun  of  St. 
Belen,  presents  some  singular  features  which  are  wor- 
thy of  observation.  When  first  denounced  to  the  In- 
quisition, she  owned  that  she  had  given  entertainment 
to  certain  Lutheran  opinions,  but  with  hesitation,  and 
in  ignorance  of  their  import  and  tendency.  Her  peti- 
tion to  be  reconciled  to  the  church  was  refused,  be- 
cause she  would  not  acknowledge  some  things  which 
the  witnesses  had  deponed  against  her,  and  because 
she  persisted  in  her  assertion,  that  she  had  not  yielded 
a  cordial  and  complete  assent  to  the  heresies  with 
which  her  mind  had  been  tainted.  When  the  depo- 
sitions were  communicated  to  her  by  order  of  the  in- 
quisitors, she  replied,  that  it  seemed  as  if  they  wished 
to  instil  into  her  mind  errors  of  which  she  was  igno- 
rant, rather  than  induce  her  to  abandon  those  to  which 
she  had  incautiously  given  ear ;  and  that  the  oath  she 
had  taken  would  not  permit  her  to  add  to  her  confes- 
sion, or  to  acknowledge  crimes  of  which  she  was  not 
conscious,  and  facts  which  she  did  not  recollect.  The 
whole  of  the  proceedings,  while  they  display  the  hon- 
ourable feelings  of  Marina,  and  the  firmness  of  her 
character,  depict,  in  strong  colours,  the  sternness  with 
which  the  Holy  Office  adhered  to  its  tyrannical  prin- 
ciples. She  was  connected  with  persons  of  high  rank, 
including  Valdes  the  grand  inquisitor,  who  used  every 
means  for  her  deliverance.  But  the  ordinary  judges 
lent  a  deaf  ear  to  the  applications  made  by  their  su- 
perior in  her  behalf,  which  they  resisted  as  an  inter- 
ference with  their  jurisdiction,  and  a  proof  of  par- 
tiality and  weakness,  unworthy  of  one  whose  office 
required  him  to  be  insensible  to  the  calls  of  nature 
and  friendship.  Valdes  was  obliged  to  procure  an 
order  from  the  council  of  the  Supreme,  authorizing 
Don  Tellcz  Giron  de  Montalban,  the  cousin  of  the 
prisoner,  to  have  a  final  interview  with  her,  in  the 
presence  of  the  leading  members  of  the  tribunal,  with 
the  view  of  inducing  her  to  yield  to  their  demands. 
But  the  attempt  was  unsuccessful.     Dona  Marina  re- 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  223 

sisted  all  the  entreaties  of  her  noble  relative,  and  re- 
fused to  purchase  her  life  by  telling  a  falsehood.  The 
inquisitors,  inflexible  to  their  former  purpose,  pro- 
ceeded to  pronounce  sentence  against  her;  and  on 
the  day  of  the  auto  she  was  delivered  to  the  secular 
arm,  and  being  strangled  at  the  place  of  execution, 
her  body  was  given  to  the  flames.  This  act  pro- 
claimed, more  decidedly  than  even  the  reply  made 
by  Philip  to  the  son  of  the  marquis  de  Poza,  that 
there  was  no  safety  in  Spain  for  any  one  who  har- 
boured a  thought  at  variance  with  the  Roman  faith, 
or  who  was  not  prepared  to  yield  the  most  implicit 
and  absolute  obedience  to  the  dictates  of  the  Inqui- 
sition.* 

The  autos-de-fe  celebrated  at  Seville  were  still  more 
memorable  than  those  at  Valladolid,  if  not  for  the  rank 
of  the  spectators,  at  least  for  the  number  of  prisoners 
exhibited  on  the  scaffold.  The  first  of  these  was 
solemnized  on  the  24th  of  September  1559,  in  the 
square  of  St.  Francis.  It  was  attended  by  four  bish- 
ops, the  members  of  the  royal  court  of  justice,  the 
chapter  of  the  cathedral,  and  a  great  assemblage  of 
nobility  and  gentry.  Twenty-one  persons  were  de- 
livered over  to  the  secular  arm,  and  eighty  were  con- 
demned to  less  punishments. 

The  most  distinguished  individual,  in  point  of  rank, 
who  suffered  death  on  the  present  occasion,  was  Don 
Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,t  son  of  the  count  de  Baylen, 
and  a  near  relation  of  the  duchess  de  Bejar,  who  was 
present  at  the  spectacle.  None  had  given  more  de- 
cided proofs  of  attachment  to  the  reformed  cause,  and 
none  had  more  diligently  prepared  himself  for  suffer- 
ing martyrdom  for  it  than  this  nobleman.  For  years 
he  had  avoided  giving  countenance  to  the  supersti- 
tions of  his  country,  and  had  made  it  a  practice  to 
visit  the  spot  where  the  confessors  of  the  truth  suffer- 
ed, with  the  view  of  habituating  his  mind  to  its  hor- 

*  Sepulveda  de  Rebus  gestis  Philippi  II.  p.  59,  60.  Register  ap- 
pended  to  Skinner's  translation  of  Montanus,  sig.  E.  ij.  E.  iij.  Llo- 
rente,  torn.  il.  chap.  xx.  art.  2. 

t  See  before,  p.  165. 


224  HISTORY    OF    THE 

rors,  and  abating  the  teiTor  Avhich  it  was  calculated  to 
inspire.  But  the  stoutest  heart  will  sometimes  faint 
in  the  hour  of  trial.  The  rank  of  Don  Juan  inspired 
the  inquisitors  with  a  strong  desire  to  triumph  over 
his  constancy.  After  extorting  from  him,  by  means 
of  the  rack,  a  confession  of  some  of  the  articles  laid  to 
his  charge,  they  employed  their  secret  emissaries  to 
persuade  him  that  he  would  consult  his  own  safety, 
and  that  of  his  brethren,  by  confessing  the  whole.  He 
had  scarcely  given  his  consent  to  this  when  he  re- 
pented. On  the  night  before  his  execution  he  com- 
plained bitterly  of  the  deceit  Avhich  had  been  prac- 
tised towards  him,  and  having  made  an  undisguised 
profession  of  his  faith,  rejected  the  services  of  the 
priest  appointed  to  wait  upon  him.  De  Montes  as- 
serts that  he  preserved  his  constancy  to  the  last,  and, 
in  support  of  this  statement,  appeals  to  the  official  ac- 
count of  the  auto,  and  to  his  sanbenito  which  was 
hung  up  in  one  of  the  churches,  with  the  inscription 
"Juan  Ponce  de  Leon,  burnt  as  an  obstinate  Luther- 
an heretic."  But  Llorente  says,  that  this  epithet  was 
applied  to  all  who  were  sentenced  to  capital  punish- 
ment, and  that  Don  Juan,  after  he  was  bound  to  the 
stake  and  saw  the  fire  about  to  be  kindled,  confessed 
himself  to  one  of  the  attendant  priests,  and  was  stran- 
gled. His  doom  entailed  infamy,  and  the  forfeiture 
of  every  civil  right,  on  his  posterity;  but  the  issue  of 
his  elder  brother  failing,  Don  Pedro,  his  son,  after 
great  opposition,  obtained  a  decision  from  the  royal 
chancery  of  Granada  in  favour  of  his  claims,  and  was 
restored  by  letters  from  Philip  HL,  to  the  earldom  of 
Baylen.* 

No  such  doubt  hangs  over  the  constancy  of  the  per- 
sons to  be  named.  Doctor  Juan  Gonzalez  was  de- 
scended of  Moorish  ancestors,  and  at  twelve  years  of 
age  had  been  imprisoned  on  suspicion  of  INIahomet- 
anism.  He  afterwards  became  one  of  the  most  cele- 
brated preachers  in  Andalusia,  and  a  Protestant.  In 
the  midst  of  the  torture,  which  he  bore  with  unshrink- 
ing fortitude,  he  told  the  inquisitors,  that  his  scnti- 

*  Cronica  de  los  Ponces  de  Leon,  apud  Llorente,  ii.  260. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  225 

ments,  though  opposite  to  those  of  the  church  of  Rome 
rested  on  plain  and  express  declarations  of  the  word 
of  God,  and  that  nothing  would  induce  him  to  inform 
against  his  brethren.  When  brought  out  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  auto,  he  appeared  with  a  cheerful  and  un- 
daunted air,  though  he  had  left  his  mother  and  two 
brothers  behind  him  in  prison,  and  was  accompanied 
hy  two  sisters,  who,  like  himself,  were  doomed  to  the 
flames.  At  the  door  of  the  Triana  he  began  to  sing 
the  hundred  and  ninth  psalm;  and  on  the  scaffold  he 
addressed  a  few  words  of  consolation  to  one  of  his 
sisters,  who  seemed  to  him  to  wear  a  look  of  dejection ; 
upon  which  the  gag  was  instantly  thrust  into  his 
mouth.  With  unaltered  mien  he  listened  to  the  sen- 
tence adjudging  him  to  the  flames,  and  submitted  to 
the  humiliating  ceremonies  by  which  he  was  degraded 
from  the  priesthood.  When  they  were  brought  to  the 
place  of  execution,  the  friars  urged  the  females,  in  re- 
peating the  creed,  to  insert  the  word  Roman  in  the 
clause  relating  to  the  Catholic  church.  Wishing  to 
procure  liberty  to  him  to  bear  his  dying  testimony, 
they  said  they  would  do  as  their  brother  did.  The 
gag  being  removed,  Juan  Gonzalez  exhorted  them  to 
add  nothing  to  the  good  confession  which  they  had 
already  made.  Instantly  the  executioners  were  or- 
dered to  strangle  them,  and  one  of  the  friars,  turning 
to  the  crowd,  exclaimed  that  they  had  died  in  the 
Roman  faith;  a  falsehood  which  the  inquisitors  did 
not  choose  to  repeat  in  their  narrative  of  the  proceed- 
ings. 

The  same  constancy  was  evinced  by  four  monks  of 
the  convent  of  San  Isidro.  Among  these  was  the 
celebrated  Garcia  de  Arias,*  whose  character  had  un- 
dergone a  complete  revolution.  From  the  moment 
of  his  imprisonment  he  renounced  that  system  of  cau- 
tiousness and  tergiversation  on  which  he  had  formerly 
acted.  He  made  an  explicit  profession  of  his  faith, 
agreeing,  in  every  point,  with  the  sentiments  of  the 
reformers ;  expressed  his  sorrow  that  he  had  concealed 
it  so  long ;  and  offered  to  prove  that  the  opposite  opin- 

*  See  before,  p.  166, 167, 


226  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ions  were  grossly  erroneous  and  superstitious.  On 
his  trial  he  mocked  the  inquisitors,  as  persons  who 
presumed  to  give  judgment  on  matters  of  which  they 
were  utterly  ignorant,  and  reminded  them  of  instances 
in  which  they,  as  well  as  the  qnalijicators  whom  they 
called  to  their  assistance,  were  forced  to  confess  their 
incapacity  to  interpret  the  Scriptures.  The  priests,  as 
a  necessary  point  of  form,  visited  his  cell,  but  none  of 
them  durst  enter  the  lists  in  argument  with  him.  Be- 
ing advanced  in  years,  he  ascended  the  scaffold,  on 
the  day  of  the  auto,  leaning  on  his  staff,  but  went  to 
the  stake  with  a  countenance  expressive  of  joy  and 
readiness  to  meet  the  flames. 

Christobal  d' Arellano,  a  member  of  the  same  con- 
vent, was  distinguished  by  his  learning,  the  inquisitors 
themselves  being  judges.  Among  the  articles  in  his 
process,  read  in  the  auto,  he  was  charged  with  having 
said,  "  that  the  mother  of  God  was  no  more  a  virgin 
than  he  was."  At  hearing  this,  d'Arellano,  rising 
from  his  seat,  exclaimed,  "  It  is  a  falsehood ;  I  never 
advanced  such  a  blasphemy;  I  have  always  main- 
tained the  contrary,  and  at  this  moment  am  ready  to 
prove,  with  the  gospel  in  my  hand,  the  virginity  of 
Mary."  The  inquisitors  were  so  confounded  at  this 
public  contradiction,  and  the  tone  in  which  it  was 
uttered,  that  they  did  not  even  order  him  to  be  gagged. 
On  arriving  at  the  stake,  he  was  thrown  into  some 
degree  of  perturbation  at  seeing  one  of  the  monks  of 
his  convent  who  had  come  there  to  insult  over  his 
fate;  but  he  soon  recovered  his  former  serenity  of 
mind,  and  expired  amidst  the  flames,  encouraging 
Juan  Chrisostomo,  who  had  been  his  pupil  and  was 
now  his  fellow-sufferer. 

The  fate  of  Juan  de  Leon  was  peculiarly  hard.  He 
had  resided  for  some  time  as  an  artisan  at  Mexico,  and 
on  his  return  to  Spain  was  led,  under  the  influence  of  a 
superstitious  feeling  general  among  his  countrymen,  to 
take  the  vow  in  the  convent  of  San  Isidro,  near  Seville. 
This  happened  about  the  time  that  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth  began  to  be  introduced  into  that  monastery. 
Having  imbibed  the  Protestant  doctrine,  Juan  lost  his 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  227 

relish  for  the  monastic  hfe,  and  quitted  the  convent 
on  the  pretext  of  bad  health ;  but  the  regret  which  he 
felt  at  losing  the  religious  instructions  of  the  good 
fathers  determined  him  to  rejoin  their  society.  On 
his  return  to  San  Isidro  he  found  it  deserted  by  its 
principal  inhabitants,  whom  he  followed  to  Geneva. 
During  his  residence  in  this  city,  intelligence  came 
that  Elizabeth  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  Eng- 
land; and  Juan  de  Leon,  with  some  of  his  country- 
men resolved  to  accompany  the  English  exiles  who 
were  preparing  to  return  home.  The  Spanish  court, 
in  concert  with  the  Inquisition,  had  planted  spies  on 
the  road  from  Milan  to  Geneva,  and  at  Frankfort, 
Cologne,  and  Antwerp,  to  waylay  such  Italians  or 
Spaniards  as  left  their  native  country  for  the  sake  of 
religion.  Aware  of  this  fact,  Juan  de  Leon  and  an- 
other Spaniard  took  a  different  road,  but  at  Strasburg 
they  were  betrayed  to  a  spy,  who  pursued  their  route 
to  a  port  in  Zealand,  and  having  procured  a  warrant, 
seized  them  as  they  were  stepping  on  board  a  vessel 
for  England.  As  soon  as  the  officers  presented  them- 
selves, Juan,  aware  of  their  intentions,  turned  to  his 
companion,  and  said,  "  Let  us  go ;  God  will  be  with 
us."  After  being  severely  tortured  to  make  them  dis- 
cover their  fellow-exiles,  they  were  sent  to  Spain. 
During  the  voyage  and  the  journey  by  land,  they  were 
not  only  heavily  chained  like  felons,  but  each  of  them 
had  his  head  and  face  covered  with  a  species  of  hel- 
met, made  of  iron,  having  a  piece  of  the  same  metal, 
shapen  like  a  tongue,  which  was  inserted  into  his 
mouth,  to  prevent  him  from  speaking.  While  his 
companion  was  sent  to  Valladolid,*  Juan  was  de- 
livered to  the  inquisitors  at  Seville.  The  sufferings 
which  he  endured,  from  torture  and  imprisonment, 

*  De  Montes  calls  this  person  Joannes  Ferdinandus;  Llorente  says 
his  name  was  Juan  Sanches.  (See  before,  p.  221.)  According  to  the 
statement  of  another  author,  these  were  different  names  of  the  same 
individual.  "Juan  Sanches,  otherwise  called  Juan  Fernandez,  some- 
time servant  to  Doct.  Ca^alla;  the  same  partie  that  was  taken  in 
Zeland,  with  Juan  de  Leon,  as  they  were  taking  passage  into  Eng- 
land."  (Register  appended  to  Skinner's  translation  of  Montanus,  sig. 
E.  ij.  b.) 


228  HISTORY    OF    THE 

had  brought  on  a  consumption ;  and  his  appearance, 
on  the  day  of  the  auto,  was  such  as  would  have  melt- 
ed the  heart  of  any  human  being  but  an  inquisitor. 
He  was  attended  at  the  stake  by  a  monk  who  had 
passed  his  noviciate  along  with  him,  and  who  dis- 
turbed his  last  moments,  by  reminding  him  of  those 
things  of  which  he  was  now  ashamed.  His  mouth 
being  relieved  from  the  gag,  he,  with  much  composure 
and  graveness,  made  a  declaration  of  his  faith  in  few 
but  emphatic  words,  and  then  welcomed  the  flames 
which  were  to  put  an  end  to  his  sufferings,  and  to 
convey  him  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect.* 

Fernando  de  San  Juan,  master  of  the  college  of 
Doctrine,  and  Doctor  Christobal  Losado,  pastor  to  the 
Protestant  church  in  Seville,  suffered  with  the  same 
fortitude  and  constancy.  The  latter,  after  he  had 
reached  the  place  of  burning,  was  engaged  in  a  theo- 
logical dispute  by  the  importunity  of  the  friars,  who 
flattered  themselves  with  being  able  to  convince  him 
of  his  errors;  but  perceiving  tliat  the  people  listened 
eagerly  to  what  was  said,  they  began  to  speak  in 
Latin,  and  were  followed  by  Losada,  who  continued 
for  a  considerable  time  to  carry  on  the  conversation 
with  propriety  and  elegance  in  a  foreign  tongue,  at 
the  foot  of  that  stake  which  was  about  to  consume 
him  to  ashes.t 

This  auto-de-fe  furnished  examples  of  Christian  he- 
roism, equally  noble,  in  those  of  the  tender  sex,  several 
of  whom  "  were  tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance, 
that  they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrection."  Among 
these  were  Dona  Isabel  de  Baena,  Maria  de  Virves, 
Maria  de  Cornel,  and  Maria  de  Bohorques.  The 
first  was  a  rich  matron  of  Seville,  who  had  permitted 
the  Protestants  to  meet  for  worship  in  her  house, 
which  on  that  account  was  laid  under  the  same  sen- 
tence of  execration  as  that  of  Leanor  de  Vibero  at 
Valladolid.:j:  The  rest  were  young  ladies,  and  con- 
nected with  the  most  distinguished  families  in  Spain. 

*  Montanus,  p.  223-228.  t  Ibid.  p.  214-216. 

X  Cypriano  dc  Valera,  Dos  Tratados,  p.  251.     Montanus,   p.  223. 
See  before,  p.  216. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  229 

The  story  of  Maria  de  Bohorques  became  celebrated, 
both  from  its  interesting  circumstances,  and  from  its 
having  been  made  the  foundation  of  an  historical 
novel  by  a  Spanish  writer.*  She  was  a  natural  daugh- 
ter of  Don  Pedro  Garcia  de  Xeres  y  Bohorques,  a 
Spanish  grandee  of  the  first  class,  and  had  not  com- 
pleted her  twenty-first  year  when  she  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Inquisition.  Great  care  had  been  be- 
stowed on  her  education,  and  being  able  to  read  the 
Bible,  and  expositions  of  it,  in  the  Latin  tongue,  she 
acquired  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  which  was 
possessed  by  few  men,  or  even  clergymen,  in  her  na- 
tive country.  Egidio,  whose  pupil  she  was,  used  to 
say  he  always  felt  himself  wiser  from  an  interview 
with  Maria  de  Bohorques.  When  brought  before  the 
inquisitors  she  avowed  her  faith;  defended  it  as  the 
ancient  truth,  which  Luther  and  his  associates  had 
recovered  from  the  rubbish  by  which  it  had  been  hid 
for  ages;  and  told  her  judges,  that  it  was  their  duty 
to  embrace  it,  instead  of  punishing  her  and  others  for 
maintaining  it.  She  was  severely  tortured,  in  conse- 
quence of  her  refusal  to  answer  certain  questions  cal- 
culated to  implicate  her  friends.  From  deference  to 
the  intercession  of  her  relations,  or  from  the  desire  of 
making  a  convert  of  one  so  accomplished,  the  inquisi- 
tors, contrary  to  their  usual  custom,  sent  first  two 
Jesuits,  and  afterwards  two  Dominicans,  to  her  cell, 
to  persuade  her  to  relinquish  her  heretical  opinions. 
They  returned  full  of  chagrin  at  their  ill  success,  but 
of  admiration  at  the  dexterity  with  which  she  repelled 
their  arguments.  On  the  night  before  the  auto  at 
which  she  was  to  suffer,  they  repeated  their  visit,  in 
company  with  two  other  priests.     She  received  them 

*  It  is  entitled  Cornelia  Bororquia,  and  was  printed  at  Bayonne. 
The  author  asserts  that  it  is  rather  a  history  than  a  romance.  But 
Llorente  says  it  is  neither  the  one  nor  tlie  other,  but  a  tissue  of  ill- 
conceived  scenes,  which  outrage  both  nature  and  fact;  and  he  com- 
plains that  this  and  similar  works  have  contributed  to  support  the 
cause  of  the  Inquisition,  by  throwing  the  air  of  fiction  around  its 
atrocities,  and  imputing  to  its  agents  words  and  actions  which  are 
ridiculous  and  destitute  of  verisimilitude,     (ii.  267.) 


230  HISTORY    OF    THE 

with  great  politeness,  but  at  the  same  time  told  them 
very  plainly,  that  they  might  have  saved  themselves 
the  trouble  which  they  had  taken,  for  she  felt  more 
concern  about  her  salvation  than  they  could  possibly 
feel ;  she  would  have  renounced  her  sentiments  if  she 
had  entertained  any  doubt  of  their  truth,  but  was  more 
confirmed  in  them  than  she  was  when  first  thrown 
into  prison,  inasmuch  as  the  popish  divines,  after  many 
attempts,  had  opposed  nothing  to  them  but  what  she 
had  anticipated,  and  to  which  she  was  able  to  return 
an  easy  and  satisfactory  answer.  On  the  morning  of 
the  auto-de-fe  she  made  her  appearance  with  a  cheer- 
ful countenance.  During  the  time  that  the  line  of  the 
procession  was  forming,  she  comforted  her  female 
companions,  and  engaged  them  to  join  with  her  in 
singing  a  psalm  suitable  to  the  occasion,  upon  which 
the  gag  was  put  into  her  mouth.  It  was  taken  out 
after  her  sentence  was  read,  and  she  was  asked,  if 
she  would  now  confess  those  errors  to  which  she  had 
hitherto  adhered  with  such  obstinacy.  She  replied 
with  a  distinct  and  audible  voice,  "  I  neither  can  nor 
will  recant."  When  the  prisoners  arrived  at  the  place 
of  execution,  Don  Juan  Ponce,  who  began  to  waver 
at  the  sight  of  the  preparations  for  the  fiery  trial,  ad- 
monished her  not  to  be  too  confident  in  the  new  doc- 
trines, but  to  weigh  the  arguments  of  those  who  at- 
tended to  give  them  advice.  Dona  Maria  upbraided 
him  for  his  irresolution  and  cowardice;  adding  that  it 
was  not  a  time  for  reasoning,  but  that  all  of  them 
ought  to  employ  their  few  remaining  moments  in 
meditating  on  the  death  of  that  Redeemer  for  whom 
they  were  about  to  suffer.  Her  constancy  was  yet 
put  to  a  further  trial.  After  she  was  bound  to  the 
stake,  the  attending  priests,  having  prevailed  on  the 
presiding  magistrate  to  delay  the  lighting  of  the  pile, 
and  professing  to  feel  for  her  youth  and  talents,  re- 
quested her  merely  to  repeat  the  creed.  This  she  did 
not  refuse,  but  immediately  began  to  explain  some  of 
its  articles  in  the  Lutheran  sense.  She  was  not  per- 
mitted to  finish  her  coimuentary ;  and  the  executioner 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  231 

having  received  orders  to  strangle  her,  she  was  con- 
sumed in  the  fire.* 

The  effigy  of  the  Ucentiate  Zafra,  whose  providen- 
tial escape  has  been  mentioned,  was  burnt  at  this 
auto-de-fe.t  Among  the  penitents  who  appeared  on 
the  present  occasion,  one  deserves  to  be  mentioned  as 
a  specimen  of  the  lenity  with  which  the  inquisitors 
punished  a  crime  which,  in  Spain,  ought  to  have  been 
visited  with  the  most  exemplary  vengeance.  The 
servant  of  a  gentleman  in  Puerto  de  Santa  Maria 
having  fastened  a  rope  to  a  crucifix,  concealed  it, 
along  with  a  whip,  in  the  bottom  of  a  chest,  and 
going  to  the  Triana,  informed  the  holy  fathers  that 
his  master  was  in  the  habit  of  scourging  the  image 
every  day.  The  crucifix  was  found  in  the  place  and 
situation  described  by  the  informer,  and  the  gentle- 
man was  thrown  into  the  secret  prisons.  Happily  for 
him,  he  recollected  a  quarrel  which  he  had  had  with 
his  servant,  and  succeeded  in  proving  that  the  accu- 
sation had  its  origin  in  personal  revenge.  According 
to  the  regulations  of  the  Holy  Office  the  servant  ought 
to  have  suffered  death ;  but  he  was  merely  sentenced 
to  receive  four  hundred  strokes  with  the  whip,  and  to 
be  confined  six  years  in  the  galleys.  The  execution 
appears  to  have  been  confined  to  the  first  part  of  the 
sentence,  which,  upon  a  principle  of  retaliation  wor- 
thy of  the  ingenuity  of  the  Inquisition,  was  consider- 
ed as  expiatory  of  the  supposed  indignity  done  to  the 
crucifix.  J 

*  Montanus,  p.  210-313.  Geddes,  Miscel.  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  574. 
Llorente,  ii.  268-271. 

t  See  before,  p.  183.  Llorente,  ii.  256.  Skinner  mentions,  among 
those  "  burned  at  Sivil  in  the  yeare  of  our  Lord  1559,  Juan  de  Cafra, 
father  to  him  that  escaped  out  of  prison,  whereof  mention  is  made 
fol.  4,  whose  picture  notwithstanding  was  burned  at  the  same  tyme." 
If  this  last  is  the  person  referred  to  in  the  text,  he  must  have  been 
privately  married;  for  the  individual  next  mentioned  in  Skinner's 
list,  is  "  Francisca  Lopez  de  Texeda  de  Manganilla,  wyfe  unto  the 
same  partie  that  so  escaped."  (Register  appended  to  the  translation 
of  Montanus,  sig.  D  d.  iij.  b.)  The  same  list  contains  the  following 
names  :  "  Medelde  Espinosa,  an  embroderer,  condemned  onely  for  re- 
ceyving  into  his  house  certayne  of  Luthers  workes  that  were  brought 
out  of  Germany.  Luys  de  Abrego,  a  man  that  was  wont  to  get  his 
living  by  writing  of  missals  and  such  other  church-bookes." 

t  Llorente,  ii.  271. 


232  HISTORY    OF    THE 

The  second  grand  auto-de-fe  in  Seville  took  place 
on  the  22d  of  December  1560,  after  it  had  been  de- 
layed in  the  hopes  of  the  arrival  of  the  monarch.  It 
was  on  this  occasion  that  the  effigies  of  the  deceased 
doctors  Egidius  and  Constantine,  together  with  that 
of  Juan  Perez,*  who  had  fled,  were  produced  and 
burnt.  Fourteen  persons  were  delivered  to  the  secu- 
lar arm,  and  thirty-four  were  sentenced  to  inferior 
punishments.t 

Julian  Hernandez  was  in  the  first  class,  and  the 
closing  scene  of  his  life  did  not  disgrace  his  former 
daring  and  fortitude.  When  brought  out  to  the  court 
of  the  Triana  on  the  morning  of  the  auto,  he  said  to 
his  fellow-prisoners,  "Courage,  comrades!  This  is 
the  hour  in  which  we  must  show  ourselves  valiant 
soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  now  bear  faithful 
testimony  to  his  truth  before  men,  and  within  a  few 
hours  we  shall  receive  the  testimony  of  his  approba- 
tion before  angels,  and  triumph  with  him  in  heaven." 
He  was  silenced  by  the  gag,  but  continued  to  encou- 
rage his  companions  by  his  gestures,  during  the  whole 
of  the  spectacle.  On  arriving  at  the  stake  he  knelt 
down  and  kissed  the  stone  on  which  it  was  erected; 
then  rising  he  thrust  his  naked  head  once  and  again 
among  the  faggots,  in  token  of  his  welcoming  that 
death  which  was  so  dreadful  to  others.  Being  bound 
to  the  stake,  he  composed  himself  to  prayer,  when 
Doctor  Fernando  Rodriguez,  one  of  the  attending 
priests,  interpreting  his  attitude  as  a  mark  of  abated 
courage,  prevailed  with  the  judge  to  remove  the  gag 
from  his  mouth.  Having  delivered  a  succinct  confes- 
sion of  his  belief,  Julian  began  to  accuse  Rodriguez, 
with  whom  he  had  been  formerly  acquainted,  of  hy- 
pocrisy in  concealing  his  real  sentiments  through  fear 
of  man.  The  galled  priest  exclaimed,  "  Shall  Spain, 
the  conqueror  and  mistress  of  nations,  have  her  peace 
disturbed  by  a  dwarf?    Executioner,  do  your  office." 

*  See  before,  p.  152. 

t  According  to  the  Narrative  of  John  Frampton,  thirty  persona 
were  burnt,  and  forty  condemned  to  other  punishments,  on  this  occa- 
sion; but  being  himself  one  of  the  prisoners,  he  might  easily  mistake 
in  computing  tlieir  numbers.  (Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.  p.  244.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  233 

The  pile  was  instantly  kindled ;  and  the  guards,  envy- 
ing the  unshaken  firmness  of  the  martyr,  terminated 
his  sufferings  by  plunging  their  lances  into  his  body.* 
No  fewer  than  eight  females  of  irreproachable  cha- 
racter, and  some  of  them  distinguished  by  their  rank 
and  education,  suffered  the  most  cruel  of  deaths  at 
this  auto-de-fe.  Among  these  was  Maria  Gomez, 
who,  having  recovered  from  the  mental  disorder  by 
which  she  was  overtaken,  had  been  received  back 
into  the  Protestant  fellowship,  and  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Inquisition.!  She  appeared  on  the  scaffold 
along  with  her  three  daughters  and  a  sister.  After 
the  reading  of  the  sentence  which  doomed  them  to 
the  flames,  one  of  the  young  women  went  up  to  her 
aunt,  from  whom  she  had  imbibed  the  Protestant  doc- 
trine, and,  on  her  knees,  thanked  her  for  all  the  reli- 
gious instructions  she  had  received  from  her,  implored 
her  forgiveness  for  any  offence  she  might  have  given 
her,  and  begged  her  dying  blessing.  Raising  her  up, 
and  assuring  her  that  she  had  never  given  her  a  mo- 
ment's uneasiness,  the  old  woman  proceeded  to  en- 
courage her  dutiful  niece,  by  reminding  her  of  that 
support  which  their  divine  Redeemer  had  promised 
them  in  the  hour  of  trial,  and  of  those  joys  which 
awaited  them  at  the  termination  of  their  momentary 
sufferings.  The  five  friends  then  took  leave  of  one 
another  with  tender  embraces  and  words  of  mutual 
comfort.  The  interview  between  these  devoted  fe- 
males was  beheld  by  the  members  of  the  Holy  Tri- 
bunal with  a  rigid  composure  of  countenance,  un- 
disturbed even  by  a  glance  of  displeasure;  and  so 
completely  had  superstition  and  habit  subdued  the 
strongest  emotions  of  the  human  breast,  that  not  a 
single  expression  of  sympathy  escaped  from  the  mul- 
titude at  witnessing  a  scene  Avhich,  in  other  circum- 
stances, would  have  harrowed  up  the  feelings  of  the 
spectators,  and  driven  them  into  mutiny.:}: 

*  Montanus,  p.  220-222.     Histoire  des   Martyrs,  f.  497,  b.     Ged- 
des,  Miscel.  Tracts,  vol.  i.  p.  570.     Llorente,  ii.  282. 
t  See  before,  p.  163,  164. 
t  Montanus,  p.  85,  86.     Llorente,  ii.  185-167. 

16 


234  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Three  foreigners,  two  of  whom  were  EngUshmen, 
perished  in  this  auto.  Nicolas  Burton,  a  merchant  of 
London,  having  visited  Spain  with  a  vessel  laden 
with  goods,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Inquisition,  and 
refusing  to  abjure  the  Protestant  faith,  Avas  burnt 
alive."*  The  remarks  of  Llorente  on  this  transaction 
are  extremely  just.  ''  Let  it  be  granted,  if  you  will 
have  it  so,  that  Burton  was  guilty  of  an  imprudence, 
by  posting  up  his  religious  sentiments  at  San  Lucar 
de  Barrameda,  and  at  Seville,  in  contempt  of  the  faith 
of  the  Spaniards;  it  is  no  less  true  that  both  charity 
and  justice  required,  that  in  the  case  of  a  stranger 
who  had  not  his  fixed  abode  in  Spain,  they  should 
have  contented  themselves  with  warning  him  to  ab- 
stain from  all  marks  of  disrespect  to  the  religion  and 
laAvs  of  the  country,  and  threatening  him  with  pun- 
ishment if  he  repeated  the  offence.  The  Holy  Office 
had  nothing  to  do  with  his  private  sentiments;  hav- 
mg  been  established,  not  for  strangers,  but  solely  for 
the  people  of  Spain.^t  That  the  charge  against  Bur- 
ton was  a  mere  pretext,  if  not  a  fabrication,  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  William  Burke,  a  mariner  of  South- 
ampton, and  a  Frenchman  of  Bayonne,  named  Fabi- 
anne,  who  had  come  to  Spain  in  the  course  of  trade, 
were  burnt  at  the  same  stake  with  him,  although  not 
accused  of  any  insult  on  the  religion  of  the  country.  | 

Part  of  the  goods  in  Burton's  ship,  which  was  con- 
fiscated by  the  inquisitors,  belonged  to  a  merchant  ui 
London,  who  sent  John  Frampton  of  Bristol  to  Se- 
ville, with  a  power  of  attorney,  to  reclaim  his  pro- 
perty. The  Holy  Office  had  recourse  to  every  ob- 
stacle in  opposing  his  claim,  and  after  fruitless  labour 
during  four  months  he  found  it  necessary  to  repair  to 
England  to  obtain  ampler  powers.  Upon  his  landing 
the  second  time  in  Spain,  he  was  seized  by  two  fa- 
miliars, and  conveyed  in  chains  to  Seville,  where  he 
was  thrown  into  the  secret  prisons  of  the  Triana. 
The  only  pretext  for  his  apprehension  was,  that  a 

*  Montanu8,  p.  175.     Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.  p.  238. 

t  Llorente,  ii.  283,  284. 

\  Strype's  Annals,  i.  238.     Llorente,  ii.  285. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  235 

book  of  Cato  in  English  was  found  in  his  port- 
manteau. Being  unable  to  substantiate  a  charge  on 
this  ground,  the  inquisitors  interrogated  him  on  his 
religious  opinions,  and  insisted  that  he  should  clear 
himself  of  the  suspicion  of  heresy  by  repeating  the 
Ave  Maria.  In  doing  this,  he  omitted  the  words, 
"Mother  of  God,  pray  for  us;"  upon  which  he  was 
put  to  the  torture.  After  enduring  three  shocks  of 
the  pulley,  and  while  he  "  lay  flat  on  the  ground, 
half-dead  and  half-ahve,"  he  agreed  to  confess  what- 
ever his  tormentors  chose  to  dictate.  In  consequence 
of  this,  he  was  found  violently  suspected  of  Luther- 
anism,  and  the  property  which  he  had  come  to  re- 
cover was  confiscated.  He  appeared  among  the  peni- 
tents at  the  auto  at  which  Burton  suffered,  and  after 
being  kept  in  prison  for  more  than  two  years  was  set 
at  liberty.* 

Among  those  who  appeared  as  penitents  were  seve- 
ral ladies  of  family  and  monks  of  different  orders. 
Others  were  severely  punished  on  the  most  trivial 
grounds.  Diego  de  Virves,  a  member  of  the  munici- 
pality of  Seville,  was  fined  in  a  hundred  ducats  for 
having  said,  on  occasion  of  the  preparations  for  Maun- 
day-Thursday,  "  Would  it  not  be  more  acceptable  to 
God  to  expend  the  money  lavished  on  this  ceremony 
in  relieving  poor  families?"  Bartolome  Fuentes  hav- 
ing received  an  injury  from  a  certain  priest,  exclaimed, 
"  I  cannot  believe  that  God  will  descend  from  heaven 
into  the  hands  of  such  a  worthless  person;"  for  which 
offence  he  appeared  on  the  scaffold  with  a  gag  in  his 
mouth.  Two  young  students  were  punished  for  "  Lu- 
theran acts,"  in  having  copied  into  their  album  some 
anonymous  verses,  which  contained  either  an  eulogi- 
um  or  a  satire  on  Luther,  according  to  the  manner  in 
which  they  were  read.t 

Gaspar  de  Benavides,  alcayde,  or  head  jailer,  of  the 
Inquisition  at  Seville,  was  convicted  of  a  course  of 

*  Frampton's  Narrative^  in  Strype's  Annals,  i.  239-245.  This  nar- 
rative  agrees  substantially  with  the  accounts  given  by  Montanus,  p. 
175-179,  and  by  Llorente,  ii.  287-289. 

t  Montanus,jp.  192-196.     Llorente,  ii.  289-291. 


236  HISTORY    OF    THE 

malversation  in  his  office.  There  was  no  species  of 
oppression  which  this  miscreant  had  not  committed 
in  his  treatment  of  the  prisoners,  before  a  riot  excited 
by  his  insufferable  cruelties  led  to  a  discovery  of  his 
guilt.  He  was  merely  declared  "to  have  failed  in 
zeal  and  attention  to  his  charge,"  and  condemned  to 
lose  his  situation,  to  appear  in  the  auto  with  a  torch 
in  his  hand,  and  be  banished  from  Seville.  Compare 
this  sentence  with  the  punishments  inflicted  on  those 
who  were  the  means  of  bringing  his  knavery  to  light. 
For  conspiring  against  him,  and  inflicting  a  wound 
on  one  of  his  assistants  which  proved  mortal,  Melchior 
del  Salto  was  burnt  alive.  A  mulatto  of  fourteen 
years  of  age,  named  Luis,  suspected  of  being  an  ac- 
complice in  the  riot,  received  two  hundred  lashes,  and 
was  condemned  to  hard  labour  in  the  galleys  for  life ; 
while  Maria  Gonzalez  and  Pedro  Herrera,  servants 
to  the  alcayde,  were  sentenced  to  the  same  number 
of  lashes,  and  confinement  in  the  galleys  for  ten  years, 
merely  because  they  had  treated  the  prisoners  with 
kindness,  and  permitted  such  of  them  as  were  rela- 
tions to  see  one  another  occasionally  for  a  few 
minutes.* 

The  treatment  of  one  individual,  who  was  pro- 
nounced innocent  in  this  auto-de-fe,  affords  more 
damning  evidence  against  the  inquisitors  than  that  of 
any  whom  they  devoted  quick  to  the  flames.  Dona 
Juana  de  Bohorques  was  a  daughter  of  Don  Pedro 

*  Montanus,  p.  108-114.  Llorente,  ii.  289,  291-293.  Herrera,  at 
the  earnest  request  of  a  mother  and  her  daughter,  who  were  eonfined 
in  separate  cells,  liad  humanely  permitted  them  to  converse  together 
for  half  an  hour.  On  their  being  summoned  soon  after  to  tlie  torture- 
room,  he  became  alarmed  lest  they  should  mention  this  indulgence, 
and  going  to  the  inquisitors  confessed  what  he  had  done.  He  was  in- 
stantly ordered  into  close  confinement,  which,  together  with  the  grief 
which  he  conceived,  brought  on  mental  derangement.  Having  reco- 
vered,  he  appeared  in  the  auto  with  a  rope  about  his  neck.  Being 
led  out  next  day  to  be  publicly  whipped,  he  was  seized  with  a  fit  of 
insanity,  and  throwing  himself  from  the  ass  on  which  he  was  borne, 
wrested  a  sword  fi-om  the  attending  alguazil,  and  would  Jiave  killed 
him,  had  not  the  crowd  interposed.  For  this  offence,  four  years  were 
added  to  his  confinement  in  the  galleys.  "  The  holy  fathers  (says  the 
liistorian  who  relates  these  facts)  will  not  permit  people  even  to  be 
insane  with  impunity."     (Montanus,  p.  111.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  237 

Garcia  de  Xeres  y  Bohorques,  and  the  wife  of  Don 
Francisco  de  Vargas,  baron  of  Higuera.     She  had 
been  appreliended  in  consequence  of  a  confession  ex- 
torted by  the  rack  from  her  sister  Maria  de  Bohorques, 
who  owned  that  she  had  conversed  with  her  on  the 
Lutheran  tenets  without  exciting  any  marks  of  disap- 
probation.    Being  six   months   gone   in  pregnancy, 
Dona  Juana  was  permitted  to  occupy  one  of  the  pub- 
he  prisons  until  the  time  of  her  delivery;  but  eight 
days  after  that  event  the  child  was  taken  from  her, 
and  she  was  thrust  into  a  secret  cell.    A  young  female, 
who  was  afterwards  brought  to  the  stake  as  a  Lu- 
theran, was  confined  along  with  her,  and  did  every 
thing  in  her  power  to  promote  her  recovery.     Dona 
Juana  had  soon  an  opportunity  of  repaying  the  kind 
attentions  of  her  fellow-prisoner,  who,  having  been 
called  before  the  inquisitors,  was  brought  back  into 
her  dungeon  faint  and  mangled.     Scarcely  had  the 
latter  acquired  sufficient  strength  to  rise  from  her  bed 
of  flags,  when  Dona  Juana  was  conducted  in  her  turn 
to  the  place  of  torture.     Refusing  to  confess,  she  was 
put  into  the  engine  del  btirro, -which  was  applied  with 
such  violence,  that  the  cords  penetrated  to  the  bone 
of  her  arms  and  legs;  and  some  of  the  internal  vessels 
being  burst,  the  blood  flowed  in  streams  from  her 
mouth  and  nostrils.     She  was  conveyed  to  her  cell  in 
a  state  of  insensibility,  and  expired  in  the  course  of  a 
few  days.    The  inquisitors  would  fain  have  concealed 
the  cause  of  her  death,  but  it  was  impossible ;  and  they 
thought  to  expiate  the  crime  of  this  execrable  mur- 
der, in  the  eyes  of  men  at  least,  by  pronouncing  Juana 
de  Bohorques  innocent  on  the  day  of  the  auto-de-fe, 
vindicating  her  reputation,  and  restoring  her  property 
to  her  heirs.    "  Under  what  an  overv\rhelming  respon- 
sibility (exclaims  one  of  their  countrymen)  must  these 
cannibals  appear  one  day  before  the  tribunal  of  the 
Deity!"     But  may  we  not  hesitate  in  deciding  the 
question.  Whose  was  the  greatest  responsibility?  that 
of  the  cannibals,  or  of  those  who  permitted  them  thus 
to  gorge  themselves  with  human  blood?     Surely  the 
spirit  of  chivalry  had  fled  from  the  breasts  of  the 


238  HISTORY    OF    THE 

Spanish  nobility,  else  they  never  would  have  suffered 
their  wives  and  daughters  to  be  abused  in  this  man- 
ner by  an  ignoble  junto  of  priests  and  friars,  support- 
ed by  a  monarch  equally  base  and  unprincipled.* 

Having  discharged  the  painful  task  of  describing 
the  four  great  autos  in  Valladolid  and  Seville,  it  may 
be  proper,  before  proceeding  with  the  narrative  of  the 
extermination  of  the  Protestants,  to  advert  to  the 
severe  measures  adopted  against  certain  dignified  ec- 
clesiastics who  fell  under  the  suspicion  of  favouring 
heresy. 

We  have  had  occasion  repeatedly  to  mention  the 
name,  and  allude  to  the  trial  of  Bartolome  de  Caranza 
y  Miranda,  archbishop  of  Toledo.  After  sitting  in  the 
council  of  Trent,  and  accompanying  Philip  II.  to 
England,  where  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  exami- 
nation of  the  Protestants  who  were  led  to  the  stake, 
this  learned  man  was  rewarded,  in  1558,  with  the 
primacy;  but  he  had  not  been  many  months  in  his 
diocese  when  he  was  denounced  to  the  Inquisition  and 
thrown  into  prison  at  Valladolid.  Some  historians 
have  ascribed  his  prosecution  entirely  to  the  envy  and 
personal  hatred  of  his  brethren,  particularly  Melchior 
Cano,  bishop  of  the  Canaries,  and  the  inquisitor-gen- 
eral Valdes.t  It  is  unquestionable  that  the  proceed- 
ings were  exasperated  by  such  base  motives;  but 
there  were  grounds  of  jealousy,  distinct  from  these, 
which  operated  against  the  primate.  Several  of  the 
leading  persons  among  the  Spanish  Protestants  had 
received  their  education  under  Carranza,  who  con- 
tinued to  maintain  a  friendly  correspondence  with 
them,  and,  though  he  signified  his  disapprobation  of 
their  sentiments  in  private,  did  not  give  information 
against  them  to  the  Holy  Office.  His  theological 
ideas  were  more  enlarged  than  those  of  his  brethren, 
and  he  appears  to  have  agreed  with  the  reformers  on 
justification  and  several  collateral  points  of  doctrine. 

*  Montanus,  p.  181-184.     Cypriano  de  Valera,  Dos  Tratados,  p« 
250.     Llorente,  ii.  2\)3-295. 
t  Llorente,  iii.  195. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  239 

In  these  respects  his  mode  of  thinking  resembled  that 
of  Marco  Antonio  Flaminio,  cardinals  Pole  and  Mo- 
rone,  and  other  learned  Italians.*  Indeed  his  intimacy 
with  these  distinguished  individuals  formed  part  of 
the  evidence  adduced  against  him.t  His  Catechism, 
which  was  made  the  primary  article  of  charge  against 
him,  besides  its  presumed  leaning  on  some  points  to 
Lutheranism,  was  offensive  to  the  Inquisition,  because 
it  was  published  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  inculcated 
the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  more  than  the  traditions  of 
the  church.  At  the  end  of  seven  years  the  cause  was 
transferred  to  Rome,  whither  the  primate  Was  convey- 
ed ;  and  after  various  intrigues  and  delays,  pope  G  re- 
gory  XIII.  pronounced  a  definitive  sentence  on  the 
14th  of  April,  1576,  finding  Carranza  violently  sus- 
pected of  heresy,  confirming  the  prohibition  of  his 
Catechism,  and  ordaining  him  to  abjure  sixteen  Lu- 
theran propositions,  and  to  be  suspended  for  five  years 
from  the  exercise  of  his  archiepiscopal  functions.  The 
sentence  had  scarcely  passed  when  the  primate  sick- 
ened and  died,  having  been  eighteen  years  under  pro- 
cess and  in  a  state  of  confinement.  J 

The  prosecution  of  the  primate  gave  rise  to  others. 
Eight  bishops,  the  most  of  whom  had  assisted  at  the 
council  of  Trent,  and  twenty -five  doctors  of  theology, 
including  the  men  of  greatest  learning  in  Spain,  were 
denounced  to  the  Holy  Office ;  and  few  of  them  es- 
caped without  making  some  humiliating  acknowledg- 
ment or  retractation. §  Mancio  de  Corpus  Christi, 
professor  of  theology  at  Alcala,  had  given  a  favour- 
able opinion  of  the  Catechism  of  Carranza,  to  which 
he  had  procured  the  subscriptions  of  the  divines  of 
his  university;  but  hearing  that  a  prosecution  was 
commenced  against  him,  he  saved  himself  from  being 
thrown  into  the  secret  prisons  by  transmitting  to  the 
inquisitors  another  opinion,  in  which  he  condemned 

*  History  of  the  Progress  and  Suppression  of  the  Reformation  in 
Italy,  p.  166-188. 
t  Llorente,  iii.  246. 

t  Llorente,  torn.  iii.  chap,  xxxii.     Bayle,  Diet.  art.  Carranza. 
§  Llorente,  ii.  427-480  ;  iii.  62-90. 


240  HISTORY    OF    THE 

three  hundred  and  thirty-one  propositions  in  the  works 
of  that  prelate,  whom  he  had  a  httle  before  pronounc- 
ed most  orthodox.*  Luis  de  la  Cruz,  a  favourite  dis- 
ciple of  Carranza,  was  thrown  into  the  secret  prisons, 
in  consequence  of  certain  papers  of  his  master  being 
found  in  his  possession,  and  the  intercourse  which  he 
had  held  with  Doctor  Cazalla  and  other  reformers. 
Confinement  and  anxiety  produced  a  tendency  of 
blood  to  his  head,  accompanied  with  fits  of  delirium, 
which  rendered  it  necessary,  for  the  preservation  of 
his  life,  to  remove  him  to  the  episcopal  prison.  Not- 
withstanding this,  and  the  failure  of  the  proof  brought 
against  him,  La  Cruz  was  kept  in  confinement  for  five 
years,  in  the  hopes  that  he  would  purchase  his  liberty 
by  blasting  the  reputation  and  betraying  the  life  of 
his  patron.t  Before  Carranza  was  formally  accused, 
the  inquisitors  had  extracted  a  number  of  propositions 
from  his  Catechism,  and  without  naming  the  author, 
submitted  them  to  the  judgment  of  Juan  de  Pegna, 
professor  at  Salamanca,  who  pronounced  them  all 
catholic,  or  at  least  susceptible  of  a  good  sense.  Af- 
ter the  primate  Avas  laid  under  arrest,  De  Pegna  be- 
came alarmed,  and  sent  an  apology  to  the  Holy  Office, 
in  which  he  acknowledged  himself  guilty  of  conceal- 
ing the  favourable  opinion  which  Carranza  had  en- 
tertained of  Don  Carlos  de  Seso.  This  did  not  pacify 
the  holy  fathers,  who  condemned  him  to  undergo  dif- 
ferent penances  for  liis  faults,  among  which  they 
reckoned  the  following:  that  he  did  not  censure  the 
proposition,  "  that  we  cannot  say  that  a  person  falls 
from  a  state  of  grace  by  committing  a  mortal  sin;'' 
and  that  he  had  given  it  as  his  private  opinion, "  that 
even  although  the  primate  was  a  heretic,  the  Holy 
Office  should  wink  at  the  fact,  lest  the  Lutherans  of 
Germany  should  canonize  him  as  a  martyr,  as  they 
had  done  others  who  had  been  punished."  J 

In  the  meantime  the  persecution  against  the  Luther- 
ans in  Valladolid  and  Seville  had  not  relaxed.  Every 
means  was  used  to  excite  the  popular  odium  against 

*  Llorente,  ii.  442.  t  Llorente,  ii.  443-444. 

t  Ibid.  ii.  463-464. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  241 

them.  The  abominable  calumnies  propagated  by  the 
pagans  of  Rome  against  the  primitive  Christians  were 
revived;  and  it  was  behoved  by  the  credulous  vulgar, 
that  the  Protestants,  in  their  nightly  assemblies,  extin- 
guished the  candles,  and  abandoned  themselves  to  the 
grossest  vices.*  On  the  feast  of  St.  Matthew,  in  the 
year  1561,  a  destructive  fire  broke  out  at  Valladolid, 
which  consumed  upwards  of  four  hundred  houses, 
including  some  of  the  richest  manufactories  and  stores 
in  the  city.  This  was  ascribed  to  a  conspiracy  of  the 
Lutherans ;  and  every  year  afterwards,  on  the  day  of 
St.  Matthew,  the  inhabitants  observed  a  solemn  pro- 
cession, accompanied  with  prayers  to  our  Lord,  through 
the  intervention  of  his  holy  apostle,  to  preserve  them 
from  this  plague  and  calamity.!  In  the  course  of  the 
same  year,  the  pope  sent  to  Spain  a  bull,  authorizing 
a  jubilee,  with  plenary  indulgences.  Among  other 
things,  it  gave  authority  to  confessors  to  absolve  those 
who  had  involved  themselves  in  the  Lutheran  heresy 
upon  their  professing  sorrow  for  their  errors.  Though 
the  object  of  the  court  of  Rome  was  to  amass  money, 
this  measure  tended  to  mitigate  the  persecution  which 
had  raged  for  some  years;  but  the  inquisitors,  deter- 
mined that  their  prey  should  not  escape  them,  pro- 
hibited the  bull  from  being  published  within  the  king- 
dom. J 

The  four  autos-de-fe  which  we  have  already  des- 
cribed, although  the  most  celebrated,  were  not  the 
only  spectacles  at  which  the  Protestants  suffered  in 
Valladolid  and  Seville.  It  required  many  years  to 
empty  their  prisons,  from  which  adherents  to  the  re- 
formed faith  continued,  at  short  intervals,  to  be  brought 
out  to  the  scaffold  and  the  stake.  On  the  10th  of  July, 
1563,  a  public  auto  Avas  celebrated  in  Seville,  at  which 
six  persons  were  committed  to  the  flames  as  Luther- 
ans. Domingo  de  Guzman  §  appeared  among  the  peni- 
tents on  this  occasion.  The  hope  of  an  archbishopric 
had  been  held  out  to  induce  him  to  recant ;  and  his 

*  Cypriano  de  Valera,  Dos  Tratados,  p.  252. 

t  Illescas,  Hist.  Pontif.  torn.  ii.  f.  451,  b.  452.  a. 

t  Montanus,  p.  188-189.  §  See  before  p.  165,  196. 


242  HISTORY    OF    THE 

brother,  the  duke  of  Medina  Sidonia,  exerted  himself 
to  procure  his  release,  upon  undergoing  such  a  slight 
penance  as  would  not  interfere  with  his  future  pros- 
pects. But  the  inquisitors  were  resolved  to  prevent 
the  advancement  of  one  who  had  embraced  the  re- 
formed tenets;  and  after  causing  his  books,  which 
exceeded  a  thousand  volumes,  to  be  burnt  before 
his  eyes,  they  condemned  him  to  perpetual  imprison- 
ment.^ 

An  occurrence  which  took  place  at  Seville  in  1564 
diverted  for  a  little  the  attention  of  the  public,  and 
even  of  the  inquisitors,  from  the  adherents  of  the  re- 
formed doctrine.  In  consequence  of  complaints  that 
the  confessional  was  abused  to  lewd  purposes,  edicts 
were  repeatedly  procured  from  Rome  to  correct  the 
evil.  Several  scandalous  discoveries  having  been  made 
by  private  investigation,  and  the  public  clamour  in- 
creasing, the  Inquisition  of  Seville  came  to  a  resolu- 
tion, of  which  they  had  reason  to  repent,  that  an  edict 
of  denunciation  should  be  published  in  all  the  churches 
of  the  province,  requiring,  under  a  severe  penalty, 
those  who  had  been  solicited  by  priests  in  the  confes- 
sional to  criminal  intercourse,  or  who  knew  of  this 
having  been  done,  to  give  information  to  the  Holy 
Office  within  thirty  days.  In  consequence  of  this  inti- 
mation, such  numbers  flocked  to  the  Triana,  that  the 
inquisitors  were  forced  once  and  again  to  prolong  the 
period  of  denunciation,  until  it  extended  to  a  hundred 
•  and  twenty  days.  Among  the  informers  were  women 
of  illustrious  birth  and  excellent  character,  who  re- 
paired to  the  inquisitors  with  their  veils,  and  under 
disguise,  for  fear  of  being  met  and  recognized  by  their 
husbands.  The  priests  were  thrown  into  the  greatest 
alarm ;t  the  peace  of  families  was  broken;  and  the 

*  Register  appended  to  the  translation  of  Montanus,  sig.  D  d.  iiij. 
b.  E.  i.  a. 

t  "  On  the  other  side  it  was  a  joly  sport  to  see  the  monkes  and 
friers  and  priestes  go  up  and  downe  hanging  downe  theyr  heads,  all 
in  duinpe  and  a  melancholy,  by  meanes  of  theyr  guilty  consciences, 
quaking  and  trembling,  and  looking  every  hower  when  some  of  the 
familiars  should  take  them  by  the  sieve,  and  call  them  coram  for  these 
matters.     In  so  much  that  a  number  feared  lest  as  great  a  plague 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  243 

whole  city  rang  with  scandal.  At  last,  the  council  of 
the  Supreme,  perceiving  the  odium  which  it  brought 
on  the  church,  and  its  tendency  to  prejudice  the  peo- 
ple against  auricular  confession,  interposed  their  au- 
thority, by  quashing  the  investigation,  and  prohibiting 
the  edict  of  denunciation  from  being  repeated."^ 

Valladolid  and  Seville  were  not  the  only  cities 
whose  prisons  were  crowded  with  friends  to  the  re- 
formed doctrine.  From  1560  to  1570,  one  public  au- 
to-de-fe  at  least  was  celebrated  annually  in  all  the 
twelve  cities  in  which  provincial  tribunals  of  the  In- 
quisition were  then  established;  and  at  each  of  these, 
adherents  to  the  new  faith  made  their  appearance.  On 
the  Sth  of  September  1560,  the  inquisition  of  Murcia 
solemnized  an  auto,  at  which  five  persons  were  sen- 
tenced to  different  punishments  for  embracing  Luther- 
anism;  and  three  years  after,  eleven  appeared  as  peni- 
tents in  that  city  on  the  same  charge.t  It  was  in  the 
last-mentioned  auto,  that  a  son  of  the  emperor  of  Mo- 
rocco, who  had  submitted  to  baptism  in  his  youth,  was 
brought  on  the  scaffold  for  relapsing  to  Mahometan- 
ism,  and  was  condemned  to  confinement  for  three 
years,  and  to  banishment  from  the  kingdoms  of  Va- 
lencia, Aragon,  Murcia,  and  Granada.  On  the  25th  of 
February,  1560,  the  Inquisition  of  Toledo  prepared  a 
grand  auto-de-fe  for  the  entertainment  of  their  young 
queen,  Ehzabeth  de  Valois,  the  daughter  of  Henry  II. 
of  France.     To  render  it  the  more  solemn,  a  general 

were  come  among  them  as  the  persecution  that  was  so  hote  about 
that  time  against  the  Lutherans."  (Skinner's  translation  of  Monta- 
nus,  sig.  R.  iij.) 

*  Montanus,  p.  184-188.  Llorente  does  not  deny  the  facts  stated 
by  the  Protestant  historian,  but  contents  himself  with  saying  that  he 
has  mistaken  the  year  1563  for  1564,  and  that  "  the  denunciations 
were  much  fewer  than  he  pretends."  (Tom.  iii.  p.  29.)  The  docu- 
ments which  enabled  the  ex-secretary  of  the  Inquisition  to  correct 
the  exaggeration,  must  have  put  it  in  his  power  to  state  the  exact 
number.  There  is  reason  in  what  he  says  on  this  subject,  that  while 
in  some  instances  the  priests  were  guilty,  in  others  they  might  be 
falsely  accused  from  malice  or  from  mistake  on  the  part  of  the  peni- 
tents; but  did  it  not  occur  to  him,  that,  on  either  supposition,  auricu- 
lar confession  and  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  are  calculated  to  have 
the  most  pernicious  influence  on  public  morals  ? 

t  Llorente,  ii.  338,  340,  344. 


244  HISTORY    OF    THE 

assembly  of  the  cortes  of  the  kingdom  was  held  there 
at  the  same  time,  to  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  to  Don 
Carlos,  the  heir  apparent  to  the  throne.    Several  Lu- 
therans appeared  among  those  who  were  condemned 
to  the  flames  and  to  other  punishments.    On  this  oc- 
casion the  duke  of  Brunswick  delivered  up  one  of  his 
retinue  to  the  flames,  to  testify  his  hatred  of  the  re- 
formed cause,  and  to  strike  terror  into  the  minds  of 
the  Germans,  Flemings,  and  French,  who  were  pre- 
sent, and  were  greatly  suspected  of  heresy.*     At  the 
same  place  in  the  subsequent  year,  four  priests,  Span- 
ish and  French,  were  burnt  alive  for  Lutheranism, 
and  nineteen  persons  of  the  same  persuasion  were 
reconciled.     Among  the  latter  was  one  of  the  royal 
pages,  whose  release  was  granted  by  Philip  and  Val- 
des,  at  the  intercession  of  the  queen.     In  1565,  the 
same  Inquisition  celebrates  another  auto,  at  which  a 
number  of  Protestants  were  condemned  to  the  fire 
and  to  penances,  under  the  several  designations  of 
Lutherans,  faithful,  and  huguenaos,  or  hugonots.  The 
metropolitan  city  of  Spain  was  so  eager  to  signalize 
its  zeal  against  heresy,  that  in  1571,  not  to  mention 
other  examples,  an  auto  was  held  in  it  at  which  two 
persons  were  burnt  alive,  and  one  in  efligy,  while  no 
fewer  than  thirty-one  were  sentenced  to  different  pun- 
isments,  as  Lutherans.    One  of  the  two  who  perished 
in  the  flames  was  Doctor  Sigismond  Archel,  a  native 
of  Cagliari  in  Sardinia.     He  had  been  arrested  at 
Madrid  in  1562,  and  after  suffering  for  many  years 
in  the  prisons  of  Toledo,  had  contrived  to  make  his 
escape;  but  his  portrait  having  been  sent  to  the  prin- 
cipal passes  of  the  frontier,  he  was  seized  before  he 
got  out  of  the  kingdom,  and  delivered  again  into  the 
hands  of  his  judges.   When  the  depositions  of  the  wit- 
nesses were  communicated  to  him,  Sigismond  acknow- 

*  Cabrera,  Cronica  dc  Don  Filipe  Segundo,  Rey  de  Espana,  p.  248. 
Madrid,  1619,  folio.  The  house  of  Brunswick  Lunenburg  was  at  that 
time  divided  into  three  branches.  Tlie  person  referred  to  in  the  text, 
Henry  X.,  duke  of  Brunswick,  was  a  determined  foe  to  the  Reforma- 
tion. On  the  other  hand,  Ernest,  duke  of  Lunenburg-Zell,  whose  de- 
scendants afterwards  became  electors  of  Hanover  and  kings  of  Eng- 
land,  was  a  zealous  reformer. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  245 

ledged  all  that  was  laid  to  his  charge,  but  pleaded,  that 
so  far  from  being  a  heretic  he  was  a  better  catholic 
than  the  papists ;  in  proof  of  which  he  read,  to  the 
great  mortification  of  the  court,  a  long  apology  which 
he  had  composed  in  prison.  He  derided  the  ignorance 
of  the  priests  who  were  sent  to  convert  hhn,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  he  was  condemned  to  wear  the  gag 
on  the  scaffold  and  at  the  stake ;  and  the  guards,  envy- 
ing him  the  glory  of  a  protracted  martyrdom,  pierced 
his  body  with  their  lances,  while  the  executioners  were 
kindling  the  pile,  so  that  he  perished  at  the  same  time 
by  fire  and  sword.*  Though  the  greater  part  of  the 
prisoners  exhibited  in  the  auto-s-de-fe  of  Granada  and 
Valencia  were  Jews  or  Mahometans,  yet  Protestants 
suffered  along  with  them  from  time  to  time ;  among 
whom  our  attention  is  particularly  fixed  upon  Don 
Miguel  de  Vera  y  Santangel,  a  Carthusian  monk  of 
Portaceli,  as  belonging  to  the  convent  in  which  the 
first  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the  Spanish  language 
was  composed.! 

None  of  the  provincial  tribunals  was  so  much  oc- 
cupied in  suppressing  the  Reformation  as  those  of  Lo- 
grono,  Saragossa,  and  Barcelona.  In  the  numerous 
autos  celebrated  in  these  cities,  a  great  part  of  those 
who  appeared  on  the  scaff"olds  were  Protestants.  But 
the  chief  employment  of  the  inquisitors  in  the  eastern 
provinces  consisted  in  searching  for  and  seizing  here- 
tical books,  which  were  introduced  from  the  frontiers 
of  France  or  by  sea.  In  1568  the  council  of  the 
Supreme  addressed  letters  to  them,  communicating 
alarming  information  received  from  England  and 
France.  Don  Diego  de  Guzman,  the  Spanish  ambas- 
sador at  London,  had  written  that  the  English  were 
boasting  of  the  converts  which  their  doctrine  was 
making  in  Spain,  and  particularly  in  Navarre.  At 
the  same  time  advertisement  was  given  by  the  am- 
bassador at  Vienne,  that  the  Calvinists  of  France 
were  felicitating  themselves  on  the  signing  of  the 
treaty  of  peace  between  the  French  and  Spanish  mo- 

*  Llorente,  ii.  384,  386,  389. 

t  Ibid.  ii.  401,411.    See  before,  p.  145. 


246  HISTORY    OF    THE 

narchs,  and  entertained  hopes  that  their  reUgion  would 
make  as  great  progress  in  Spain  as  it  had  done  in 
Flanders,  England,  and  other  countries,  because  the 
Spaniards,  who  had  already  embraced  it  secretly, 
would  now  have  an  easy  communication  through  Ar- 
agon  with  the  Protestants  of  Beam.  From  Castres 
and  from  Paris  the  inquisitor  general  had  received 
certain  information  that  large  quantities  of  books,  in 
the  Castilian  tongue,  were  destined  for  Spain.  These 
were  in  some  instances  put  into  casks  of  Champagne 
and  Burgundy  wine,  with  such  address  that  they 
passed  through  the  hands  of  the  custom-house  offi- 
cers without  detection.  In  this  way  many  copies  of 
the  Spanish  Bible,  published  by  Cassiodoro  de  Reyna 
at  Basle,  in  1569,  made  their  way  into  Spain,  notwith- 
standing the  severest  denunciations  of  the  Holy  Office, 
and  the  utmost  vigilance  of  the  familiars.* 

But  the  Inquisition  was  not  satisfied  with  prevent- 
ing heretical  men  and  books  from  coming  into  Spain ; 
it  exerted  itself  with  equal  zeal  in  preventing  orthodox 
horses  from  being  exported  out  of  the  kingdom.  In- 
credible or  ludicrous  as  this  may  appear  to  the  reader, 
nothing  can  be  more  unquestionable  than  the  fact,  and 
nothing  demonstrates  more  decidedly  the  unprincipled 
character  of  the  inquisitors,  as  well  as  of  those  who 
had  recourse  to  its  agency  to  promote  their  political 
schemes.  As  early  as  the  fourteenth  century  it  had 
been  declared  illegal  to  transport  horses  from  Spain 
to  France.  This  prohibition  originated  entirely  in 
views  of  political  economy,  and  it  was  the  business 
of  the  officers  of  the  customs  to  prevent  the  contra- 
band trade.  But  on  occasion  of  the  wars  which  arose 
between  the  Papists  and  Hugonots  of  France,  and  the 
increase  of  the  latter  on  the  Spanish  borders,  it  oc- 
curred to  Philip,  as  an  excellent  expedient  for  putting 
down  the  prohibited  commerce,  to  commit  the  task  to 
the  Inquisition,  whose  services  would  be  more  effec- 
tive than  those  of  a  hundred  thousand  frontier  guards. 
With  this  view  he  procured  a  bull  from  the  pope, 
which,  with  a  special  reference  to  the  Hugonots  of 

»  Llorente,  i.  477  ;  ii.  392-394,  407. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  247 

France,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Beam  in  particular, 
declared  all  to  be  suspected  of  heresy  who  should 
furnish  arms,  munitions,  or  other  instruments  of  war 
to  heretics.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  council  of  the 
Supreme,  in  1569,  added  to  the  annual  edict  of  denun- 
ciation a  clause  obliging  all,  under  the  pain  of  excom- 
munication, to  inform  against  any  who  had  bought 
or  transported  horses  for  the  use  of  the  French  Pro- 
testants; which  was  afterwards  extended  to  all  who 
sent  them  across  the  Pyrenees.  For  this  offence  num- 
bers were  fined,  whipped,  and  condemned  to  the  gal- 
leys, by  the  inquisitorial  tribunals  on  the  frontiers. 
Always  bent  on  extending  their  jurisdiction,  the  in- 
quisitors sought  to  bring  under  their  cognizance  all 
questions  respecting  the  contraband  trade  in  saltpetre, 
sulphur,  and  powder.*  Philip,  however,  diverted 
their  attention  from  this  encroachment  on  the  civil 
administration,  by  engaging  them  in  the  pursuit  of 
royal  game.  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  availing  himself 
of  favourable  circumstances,  had  added  the  greater 
part  of  the  kingdom  of  Navarre  to  his  dominions; 
and  Charles  V.,  in  a  fit  of  devotion,  had,  by  his  testa- 
ment, enjoined  his  son  to  examine  the  claim  which 
the  Spanish  monarchy  had  to  these  territories,  and,  if 
it  should  be  found  invalid,  to  restore  them  to  the  ori- 
ginal proprietor. t  So  far  from  doing  this  act  of  jus- 
tice, Philip  intended  to  annex  the  whole  of  that  king- 
dom to  his  crown.  At  his  instigation,  pope  Pius  IV". 
in  1563,  issued  a  bull,  excommunicating  Jeanne  d' 
Albret,  the  hereditary  queen  of  Navarre,  and  offering 
her  dominions  to  the  first  Catholic  prince  who  should 
undertake  to  clear  them  of  heresy.  With  character- 
istic duplicity  Philip  professed  to  the  French  court  his 
disapprobation  of  the  step  taken  by  his  Holiness, 
while,  in  concert  with  the  inquisitor  general  Espinosa 
and  the  house  of  Guise,  he  was  concerting  measures 
to  seize  the  person  of  the  queen  of  Navarre,  and  of 
her  son,  afterwards  Henry  IV.  of  France,  with  the 

*  Llorentc,  ii.  394-400. 

t  Sandoval,  Vida  del  Emperador  Don  Carlos  V.  torn.  ii.  p.  876. 


248  HISTORY    OF    THE 

view  of  carrying  them  by  force  into  Spain,  and  de- 
livering them  to  the  Inquisition.  This  disgraceful 
conspiracy,  formed  in  1565,  was  defeated  onlyb}^  the 
sudden  illness  of  the  officer  to  whom  its  execution 
had  been  intrusted.* 

The  public  is  not  unacquainted  with  the  cruelties 
perpetrated  by  the  Inquisition  of  Goa,  within  the  set- 
tlements of  the  Portuguese  in  the  East  Indies.t  Simi- 
lar atrocities  were  committed  by  the  Spaniards  in  the 
New  World,  in  which  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition 
was  erected  at  Mexico,  Lima,  and  Carthagena.  At 
Mexico,  in  the  year  1574,  an  Englishman  and  a 
Frenchman  were  burnt  alive  as  impenitent  Lutherans 
while  others  were  subjected  to  penances  for  embra- 
cing the  opinions  of  Luther  and  Calvin.l  In  the  close 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  Louis  Rame,  a  French 
protestant,  was  detained  as  a  prisoner  for  four  years 
by  the  inquisitors  of  Mexico ;  and  several  natives  of 
England  and  its  colonies  were  forced  to  abjure  their 
religion,  and  submit  to  rebaptization.§  A  splendid 
auto-de-fe  was  celebrated  at  the  same  place  in  1659, 
at  which  William  Lamport,  an  Irishman,  was  con- 
demned to  the  flames,  "  for  being  infected  with  the 
errors  of  Luther,  Calvin,  Pelagius,  Wicliff,  and  John 
Huss;  in  a  word,  because  he  was  guilty  of  all  imagi- 
nable heresies."  He  was  the  author  of  two  writings, 
in  one  of  which,  to  use  the  language  of  his  indictment, 
"  things  were  said  against  the  Holy  Office,  its  erec- 
tion, style,  mode  of  process,  &c.  in  such  a  manner, 
that  in  the  whole  of  it  not  a  word  was  to  be  found 
that  was  not  deserving  of  reprehension,  not  only  as 
being  injurious,  but  also  insulting  to  our  holy  cathoUc 
faith.''  Of  the  other  writing  the  procurator  fiscal 
says,  "that  it  contained  detestable  bitterness  of  lan- 

*  Recueil  dcs  choses  m^morables  avenues  en  France,  depuis  I'an 
J 547,  jusqucs  a  1597,  p.  292.  Memoires  Secrets  de  M.  de  Villeroi. 
Llorcnte,  chap,  xxvii.  art.  4. 

t  Dellon's  Account  of  tlie  Inquisition  at  Goa.  Lond.  1815.  Bu- 
chanan's Christian  Researches  in  Asia,  p.  140-165. 

tLlorente,  ii.  199. 

§  Relation  de  Mons.  Louis  Ramc:  Baker's  History  of  the  Inquisi- 
lion,  p.  368-394. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  249 

guage,  and  contumelies  so  filled  with  poison,  as  to 
manifest  the  heretical  spirit  of  the  author-,  and  his  bit- 
ter hatred  against  the  Holy  Office."  On  the  day  of 
execution,  being  desirous  of  testifying  the  readiness 
with  which  he  met  death,  he  was  no  sooner  seated  at 
the  foot  of  the  stake,  and  his  neck  placed  in  the  ring, 
than  he  let  himself  fall  and  broke  his  neck.  Accord- 
ing to  the  official  report  of  the  auto-de-fe,  Lamport 
trusted  "that  the  devil,  his  familiar,  would  relieve 
him,"  and  as  he  walked  through  the  streets  to  the 
place  of  execution,  continued  looking  up  to  the  clouds 
to  see  if  the  superior  power  he  expected  was  coming; 
but  finding  all  his  hopes  vain,  he  strangled  himself.* 

The  year  1570  may  be  fixed  upon  as  the  period  of 
the  suppression  of  the  reformed  religion  in  Spain. 
After  that  date,  Protestants  were  still  discovered  at 
intervals  by  the  Inquisition,  and  brought  out  in  the 
autos-de-fe;  but  they  were  "as  the  gleaning  grapes 
when  the  vintage  is  done."  Several  of  these  were 
foreigners,  and  especially  Englishmen.  The  punish- 
ment of  Burton  and  others  produced  remonstrances 
from  foreign  powers,  which  were  long  disregarded  by 
the  Spanish  government.  All  that  Mann,  the  English 
ambassador  at  the  court  of  Madrid,  could  obtain,  was 
a  personal  protection  on  the  head  of  religion,  while 
those  of  his  retinue  were  compelled  to  go  to  mass;t 
and  having  caused  the  English  service  to  be  performed 
in  his  house,  he  was  for  some  time  excluded  from  the 
court,  and  obliged  to  quit  Madrid.  The  circum- 
stances in  which  Elizabeth  was  then  placed,  obliged 
her  to  act  cautiously;  but  she  wrote  to  Mann,  desir- 
ing him  to  remonstrate  with  his  catholic  majesty 
against  treatment  so  dishonourable  to  her  crown,  and 
so  opposite  to  that  which  the  Spanish  ambassador 
received  at  London;  and  intimating  that  she  would 
recall  him,  unless  the  privilege  of  private  worship,  ac- 
cording to  the  rites  of  their  country,  were  granted  to 

*  Auto  General  de  la  Fe  celebrado  en  Mexico,  en  1569  :  Puigblanch, 
torn,  i  p.  85-87,  190-192. 

tEpistola  Jo.  Manni,  Madr.  4  Nov.  1566:  MSS.  Bibl.  Corpus 
Christi,  No.  cxiv.  252. 

17 


250  HISTORY    OF    THE 

his  servants.*  At  a  subsequent  period,  the  injury 
done  to  commerce  by  persecution  obliged  the  govern- 
ment to  issue  orders,  that  strangers  visiting  Spain  for 
the  purpose  of  trade  should  not  be  molested  on  ac- 
count of  their  religion.  The  inquisitors,  however, 
made  no  scruple  of  transgressing  the  ordinances  of  the 
court  on  this  point,  by  proceeding  from  time  to  time 
against  foreigners,  under  the  pretext  that  they  pro- 
pagated heresy  by  books  or  conversation.  Among 
many  others,  William  Lithgow,  the  well-known  travel- 
ler, was  in  1620  imprisoned  and  put  to  the  torture  at 
at  Malaga;!  and  in  1714  Isaac  Martin  was  subjected 
to  the  same  treatment  at  Granada.  J 

Of  fifty-seven  persons,  whose  sentences  were  read  at 
an  auto  held  in  Cuenga  in  1654,  one  only  was  charged 
with  Lutheranism.§  In  1680,  an  auto-de-fe  was  cele- 
brated at  Madrid,  in  honour  of  the  marriage  of  the 
Spanish  monarch,  Don  Carlos  II.,  to  Marie  Louise  de 
Bourbon,  the  niece  of  Louis  XIV.  of  France;  and  as 
a  proof  of  the  taste  of  the  nation,  a  minute  account  of 
the  whole  procedure  on  that  occasion  was  published 
to  the  world,  with  the  approbation  of  all  the  authori- 
ties, civil  and  ecclesiastical.  Among  a  hundred  and 
eighteen  victims  produced  on  the  scaffold,  we  meet 
with  the  name  of  only  one  Protestant,  whose  etfigy 
and  bones  were  given  to  the  flames.  This  was  Mar- 
cos de  Segura,  a  native  of  Villa  de  Ubrique,  in  Gra- 
nada, whose  sentence  bears,  that  he  had  formerly  been 
"reconciled"  by  the  inquisition  of  Llerena,  as  a  heretic 
who  denied  purgatory,  but  who,  having  relapsed  into 
this  and  other  errors,  was  again  thrown  into  prison, 
where  he  died  in  a  state  of  impenitence  and  contu- 
macy. || 

Although  upwards  of  sixteen  hundred  victims  were 

*  Strype's  Annals,  vol.  i.  p.  543-4. 

tLithgow's  Travels,  part  x. 

t  The  Narrative  of  Martin's  Sufferin|rs  was  published  in  English, 
and  translated  into  French,  under  the  title  of  "  Le  Proces  et  les  Souf- 
frances  de  Mons.  Isaac  Martin.     Londrcs,  1723." 

§  Llorcnte,  iii.  470. 

II  Joseph  del  Ohno,  Relacion  Historica  del  Auto  General  de  Fe, 
que  se  cclcbro  en  Madrid  cstc  ano  de  1680,  p.  248. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  251 

burnt  alive  in  the  course  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
we  do  not  perceive  that  any  of  them  were  Protest- 
ants.* But  the  reformed  faith  can  number  among  its 
confessors  a  Spaniard  who  suffered  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  Don  Miguel  Juan  Antonio  Solano,  a  native 
of  Verdun  in  Aragon,  was  vicar  of  Esco  in  the  dio- 
cese of  Jaca.  He  was  educated  according  to  the 
Aristotelian  system  of  philosophy  and  scholastic  di- 
vinity; but  the  natural  strength  of  his  mind  enabled 
him  to  throw  off  his  early  prejudices,  and  he  made 
great  proficiency  in  mathematics  and  mechanics.  His 
benevolence  led  him  to  employ  his  inventive  powers 
for  the  benefit  of  his  parishioners,  by  improving  their 
implements  of  husbandry,  and  fertilizing  their  soil.  A 
long  and  severe  illness,  which  made  him  a  cripple  for 
life,  withdrew  the  good  vicar  of  Esco  from  active  pur- 
suits, and  induced  him  to  apply  himself  to  theological 
studies  more  closely  than  he  had  hitherto  done.  His 
small  library  happened  to  contain  a  Bible ;  and  by 
perusing  this  with  impartiality  and  attention,  he  gra- 
dually formed  for  himself  a  system  of  doctrine,  which 
agreed  in  the  main  with  the  leading  doctrines  of  the 
Protestant  churches.  The  candid  and  honourable  mind 
of  Solano  would  not  permit  him  either  to  conceal  his 
sentiments,  or  to  disseminate  them  covertly  among  his 
people.  Having  drawn  up  a  statement  of  his  new 
views,  he  laid  it  before  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  for 
his  judgment,  and  receiving  no  answer  from  him,  sub- 
mitted it  to  the  theological  faculty  in  the  university  of 
Saragossa.  The  consequence  was,  that  he  was  seized 
and  thrown  into  the  prison  of  the  holy  tribunal  at  Sa- 

*  The  last  person  who  was  committed  to  the  flames,  was  a  beata^ 
burnt  alive  at  Seville,  on  the  7th  of  November  1781.  (Llorente,  iv. 
270.)  "  I  myself  (says  Mr.  Blanco  White)  saw  the  pile  on  which  the 
last  victim  was  sacrificed  to  human  infallibility.  It  was  an  unhappy 
woman,  whom  the  Inquisition  of  Seville  committed  to  the  flames, 
under  the  charge  of  heresy,  about  forty  years  ago.  She  perished  on 
a  spot  where  thousands  had  met  the  same  fate.  I  lament  from  my 
heart,  that  the  structure  which  supported  their  melting  limbs  was 
destroyed  during  the  late  convulsions.  It  should  have  been  preserved 
with  the  infallible  and  immutable  canon  of  the  Council  of  Trent  over 
it,  for  the  detestation  of  future  ages."  (Practical  and  Internal  Evi- 
dence against  Catholicism,  p.  122-3.) 


252  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ragossa,  which,  in  the  infirm  state  of  his  health,  -^as 
the  same  as  sending  him  to  the  grave.  He  contrived, 
however,  by  the  assistance  of  some  kind  friends,  to 
'make  his  escape,  and  to  reach  Oleron,  the  nearest 
French  town;  but  after  seriously  deliberating  on  the 
course  which  he  should  pursue,  he  came  to  the  reso- 
lution of  asserting  the  truth  in  the  very  face  of  death, 
and  actually  returned  of  his  own  accord  to  the  inquisi- 
torial prison.  On  appearing  before  the  tribunal,  he  ac- 
knowledged the  opinions  laid  to  his  charge,  but  plead- 
ed in  his  defence,  that  after  long  meditation,  with  the 
most  sincere  desire  to  discover  the  truth,  and  without 
any  other  help  than  the  Bible,  he  had  come  to  these 
conclusions.  He  avowed  his  conviction,  that  all  sav- 
ing truth  was  contained  in  the  holy  Scriptures ;  that 
whatever  the  church  of  Rome  had  decreed  to  the  con- 
trary, by  departing  from  the  proper  and  literal  sense 
of  the  sacred  text,  was  false;  that  the  idea  of  a  pur- 
gatory and  limhus  patrum  was  a  mere  human  inven- 
tion; that  it  was  a  sin  to  receive  money  for  saying 
mass;  that  tithes  were  fraudulently  introduced  into 
the  Christian  church  by  the  priests;  that  the  exaction 
of  them  was  as  dishonourable  on  their  part,  as  it  was 
impolitic  and  injurious  to  the  cultivators  of  the  soil ; 
and  that  the  ministers  of  religion  should  be  paid  by 
the  state  for  their  labours,  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
judges  were.  The  tribunal,  after  going  through  the 
ordinary  forms,  decided  that  Solano  should  be  de- 
livered over  to  the  secular  arm.  The  inquisitor  gene- 
ral at  that  time  was  Arce,  archbishop  of  Saragossa,  the 
intimate  friend  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  suspected 
of  secret  infidelity.  Averse  to  the  idea  of  an  execu- 
tion by  fire  during  his  administration,  he  prevailed  on 
the  council  of  tlie  Supreme  to  order  a  fresh  examina- 
tion of  the  witnesses.  This  was  carried  into  execu- 
tion, and  the  inquisitors  renewed  their  former  sen- 
tence. Arce  next  ordered  an  inquiry  into  the  mental 
sanity  of  the  prisoner.  A  physician  was  found  to  give 
an  opinion  favourable  to  the  known  wishes  of  the 
grand  inquisitor;  but  the  sole  ground  on  whicli  it 
rested  was,  that  the  prisoner  had  vented  opinions  dif- 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  253 

ferent  from  those  of  his  brethren.  The  only  thing  that 
remained  was  to  endeavour  to  persuade  Solano  to 
retract  those  opinions  which  had  been  condemned  by 
so  many  popes  and  general  councils.  But  this  attempt 
was  altogether  fruitless.  To  all  the  arguments  drawn 
from  such  topics,  he  replied,  that  money  was  the  god 
worshipped  at  Rome,  and  that  in  all  the  councils  which 
had  been  held  of  late,  the  papal  influence  had  decided 
theological  questions,  and  rendered  useless  the  good 
intentions  of  some  respectable  men.  In  the  mean  time, 
his  confinement  brought  on  a  fever,  during  which  the 
inquisitors  redoubled  their  efforts  for  his  conversion. 
He  expressed  himself  thankful  for  their  attention,  but 
told  them  that  he  could  not  retract  his  sentiments 
without  offending  God  and  betraying  the  truth.  On 
the  twentieth  day  of  his  sickness,  the  physician  in- 
formed him  of  his  danger,  and  exhorted  him  to  avail 
himself  of  the  few  moments  which  remained.  "  I  am 
in  the  hands  of  God,"  said  Solano," and  have  nothing 
more  to  do."  Thus  died,  in  1S05,  the  vicar  of  Esco. 
He  was  refused  ecclesiastical  sepulture,  and  his  body 
was  privately  interred  Ivithin  the  enclosure  of  the 
Inquisition,  near  the  back  gate,  towards  the  Ebro. 
His  death  was  reported  to  the  council  of  the  Supreme, 
who  stopped  further  proceedings,  to  avoid  the  neces- 
sity of  burning  him  in  effigy.* 

Such  are  the  details  of  the  unsuccessful,  but  inter- 
esting, attempt  to  reform  religion  in  Spain  during  the 
sixteenth  century.  Melancholy  as  the  results  were, 
they  present  nothing  which  reflects  discredit  on  the 
cause,  or  on  those  by  whom  it  was  espoused.  It  did 
not  miscarry  through  the  imprudence  or  the  infidelity 
of  its  leading  friends.  On  the  contrary,  we  have  met 
with  examples  of  the  power  of  religion,  of  enlight- 
ened and  pure  love  to  truth,  and  of  invincible  for- 
titude, combined  with  meekness  scarcely  inferior  to 
any  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  Christi- 
anity. To  fall  by  such  weapons  as  we  have  de- 
scribed, can  be  disgraceful  to  no  cause.     The  fate  of 

*  Llorente,  iv.  127-133.     Blanco  White's  Practical  and  Internal 
Evidence  against  Catholicism,  p.  239-242. 


254  HISTORY    OF    THE 

the  Reformation  in  Spain,  as  well  as  in  Italy,  teaches 
us  not  to  form  hasty  and  rash  conclusions  respect- 
ing a  course  of  proceedings  on  which  Providence, 
for  inscrutable  reasons,  may  sometimes  be  pleased  to 
frown.*  The  common  maxim,  that  "  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church,"  was  remarkably 
verified  in  the  primitive  ages  of  Christianity;  but  we 
must  distinguish  what  is  eflected  by  the  special  inter- 
position and  extraordinary  blessing  of  heaven,  from 
what  will  happen  according  to  the  ordinary  course  of 

*  The  following  words  of  a  writer,  whose  knowledge  of  facts  was 
not  equal  to  his  strong  natural  sense,  express  an  opinion  which  is 
now  not  uncommon :  "  I  believe  it  will  be  found,  that  when  Chris- 
tians have  resorted  to  the  sword,  in  order  to  resist  persecution  for  the 
gospel's  sake,  as  did  the  Albigenses,  the  Bohemians,  the  Frencli  Pro- 
testants, and  some  others,  within  the  last  six  hundred  years,  the  issue 
has  commonly  been,  that  they  have  perished  by  it,  that  is,  they  have 
been  overcome  by  their  enemies,  and  exterminated;  whereas,  in  cases 
where  their  only  weapons  have  been  '  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  the 
word  of  their  testimony,  loving  not  their  lives  unto  death,'  they  have 
overcome."  (Christian  Patriotism,  by  Andrew  Fuller.)  The  facts 
which  have  been  laid  before  the  reader  will  enable  him  to  judge  of 
the  truth  of  the  last  part  of  this  assertion.  Nor  is  the  first  part  less 
incorrect  and  objectionable.  The  trtilh  is,  that  the  Albigenses,  &c., 
who  resisted,  were  not  exterminated ;  while  the  Italian  and  Spanish 
Protestants,  who  did  not  resist,  met  with  that  fate.  If  the  defensive 
wars  of  the  Albigenses,  &c.  were  unsuccessful,  it  ought  to  be  remem- 
bered that  those  of  the  Protestants  in  Germany,  Switzerland,  Scot- 
land, and  the  Low  Countries,  were  crowned  with  success.  The  French 
Protestants  were  suppressed,  not  when  they  had  arms  in  their  hands, 
but  when  they  were  living  peaceably  under  the  protection  of  the  pub- 
lic faith  pledged  to  them  in  edicts  which  had  been  repeatedly  and 
solemnly  ratified.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  public  mind  in  Britain, 
much  as  has  been  done  to  mislead  it,  is  not  yet  prepared  for  adopting 
principles  which  lead  to  a  condemnation  of  the  famous  Waldenses  and 
Bohemians,  for  standing  to  the  defence  of  their  lives,  when  proscribed 
and  violently  attacked  on  account  of  their  religion.  They  lived  dur- 
ing the  period  of  Antichrist's  power,  and,  according  to  the  adorable 
plan  of  Providence,  were  allowed  to  fall  a  sacrifice  to  his  rage;  but 
while  the  Scriptures  foretell  this,  they  mention  it  to  their  honour,  and 
not  in  the  way  of  fixing  blame  on  them.  "  It  was  given  unto  the 
beast  to  make  war  with  the  saints,  and  to  overcome  them."  Instead 
of  being  ranked  with  those  who  perished  in  consequence  of  their  hav- 
ing taken  the  sword  without  a  just  reason,  these  Christian  patriots  de- 
serve rather  to  be  numbered  with  those  who  "through  faith  waxed 
valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens,  and  others 
were  slain  with  the  sword,"  all  of  whom,  "having  obtained  a  good 
report  through  faith,  received  not  the  promises,  God  having  provided 
some  better  thing  for  us." 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  255 

events.  In  the  nature  of  things  it  cannot  but  operate 
as  a  great,  and  with  multitudes  as  an  insuperable, 
obstacle  to  the  reception  of  the  truth,  that,  in  follow- 
ing the  dictates  of  their  conscience,  they  must  expose 
themselves  to  every  species  of  worldly  evil;  and  per- 
secution may  be  carried  to  such  a  pitch  as  will,  with- 
out a  miracle,  crush  the  best  of  causes ;  for,  though  it 
cannot  eradicate  the  truth  from  the  minds  of  those  by 
whom  it  has  been  cordially  embraced,  it  may  cut  off 
all  the  ordinary  means  of  communication  by  which  it 
is  progagated.  Accordingly  history  shows  that  true 
religion  has  been  not  only  excluded,  but  banished,  for 
ages  from  extensive  regions  of  the  globe,  by  oppres- 
sive laws  and  a  tyrannical  administration. 

But  we  are  not  on  this  account  to  conclude  that  the 
Spanish  martyrs  threw  away  their  lives,  and  spilt 
their  blood  in  vain.     They  offered  to  God  a  sacrifice 
of  a  sweet-smelling  savour.     Their  blood  is  precious 
in  his  sight ;  he  has  avenged  it,  and  may  yet  more 
signally  avenge  it.   They  left  their  testimony  for  truth 
in  a  country  where  it  had  been  eminently  opposed  and 
outraged.  That  testimony  has  not  altogether  perished. 
Who  knows  what  effects  the  records  of  what  they 
dared  and  suffered  may  yet,  through  the  divine  bles- 
sing, produce  upon  that  unhappy  nation,  which  count- 
ed them  as  the  filth  and  offscouring  of  all  things,  but 
was  not  worthy  of  them  ?     Though  hitherto  lost  on 
Spain,  it  has  not  been  without  all  fruit  elsewhere. 
The  knowledge  of  the  exertions  made  by  Spaniards, 
and  of  the  barbarous  measures  adopted  to  put  them 
down,  provoked  many  in  other  countries  to  throw  off 
the  Roman  yoke,  and  to  secure  themselves  against 
similar  cruelties.  In  particular,  it  inspired  their  fellow- 
subjects  in  the  Low  Countries  with  a  determination 
not  to  permit  their  soil  to  be  polluted  by  the  odious 
tribunal  of  the  Inquisition,  and  consolidated  that  re- 
sistance which  terminated  in  the  establishment  of  civil 
liberty,  in  connexion  with  the  reformed  religion,  in 
the  United  Provinces.  While  we  bow  with  reverence 
to  those  providential  arrangements  which  permitted 
the  standard  of  truth  to  fall  in  one  part  of  the  world, 


256  HISTORY    OF    THE 

we  cannot  but  reflect  with  gratitude  on  the  signal 
success  vouchsafed  to  it  in  others.  It  was  during  the 
years  1559  and  1560  that  the  death-blow  was  given  to 
the  reformed  rehgion  in  Spain ;  and  during  the  same 
period  the  religious  liberties  of  the  Protestants  of 
Germany  were  finally  secured,  the  reformed  church 
was  regularly  organized  in  the  kingdom  of  France, 
England  was  freed  from  Popery  by  the  accession  of 
Elizabeth,  and  the  cause  of  the  Reformation,  after 
struggling  long  for  existence,  attained  to  a  happy  and 
permanent  establishment  in  Scotland. 


CHAPTER  Vlir. 

PROTESTANT  EXILES  FROM  SPAIN. 

Those  who  have  taken  an  interest  in  the  preceding 
narrative  will  feel  a  desire  to  know  something  of  the 
fate  of  those  Spaniards  who  escaped  the  horrors  of 
the  dungeon  and  the  stake  by  abandoning  their  native 
country. 

From  the  time  that  violent  measures  were  first 
adopted  to  put  down  the  new  opinions,  individuals 
who  had  incurred  the  suspicions  of  the  clergy,  or 
whose  attachment  to  country  yielded  to  their  fears  or 
to  their  passion  for  religious  liberty,  began  to  quit  the 
Peninsula.  As  the  persecution  grew  hotter,  the  emi- 
gration increased;  nor  had  it  altogether  ceased  at  the 
close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Some  of  the  emigrants 
crossed  the  Pyrenees,  after  which  they  sought  out 
abodes  in  France  and  Switzerland;  others,  escaping 
by  sea,  took  refuge  in  the  Low  Countries  and  in  Eng- 
land. 

Antwerp  was  the  first  place  in  which  the  refugees 
were  formed  into  a  church.  The  reformed  opinions 
had  been  early  introduced  into  this  great  mart  of 
Europe,  in  consequence  of  the  multitude  of  strangers 
who  continually  resorted  to  it,  and  the  superior  free- 
dom which  is  enjoyed  wherever  commerce  flourishes. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  257 

It  was  to  the  merchants  of  Antwerp  that  the  Spaniards 
were  first  indebted  for  the  means  of  their  illumina- 
tion;* and  they  continued  long  to  promote  the  good 
work  which  they  had  begun,  by  encouraging  transla- 
tions of  the  Scriptures  and  other  books  into  the  Span- 
ish language.!  Antonio  de  Corran,  or  Corranus,  a 
learned  native  of  Seville,  was  pastor  of  the  Spanish 
church  in  Antwerp  before  the  year  1568,  when  that 
city  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  duke  of  Alva,  of  san- 
guinary memory 4.  After  it  recovered  its  liberty,  the 
exiles  returned  to  their  former  asylum,  and  enjoyed 
the  pastoral  labours  of  another  native  of  Seville, 
Cassiodoro  de  Reyna,  the  translator  of  the  Bible,  who 
appears  to  have  continued  with  them  until  1 585,  when 
the  city  was  again  brought  under  the  Spanish  yoke, 
after  a  memorable  siege  by  the  duke  of  Parma.  Dur- 
ing his  residence  there,  he  drew  up,  for  the  use  of  his 
hearers,  the  Antwerp  Catechism,  which  he  published 
both  in  Spanish  and  French. § 

Previously  to  his  settlement  at  Antwerp,  De  Reyna 
had  resided  at  Strasburg,  Frankfort,  and  other  impe- 
rial cities,  where  he  found  a  number  of  his  country- 
men, whom  he  would  willingly  have  served  as  a 
preacher.  But  the  German  divines  received  him  cold- 
ly, on  account  of  his  leaning  to  the  sentiments  of 
Calvin  and  the  Swiss  churches,  on  the  subject  of  the 
eucharist.||  On  this  account,  he  retired  to  Basle,  and 
meeting  with  a  kind  reception  in  that  seat  of  litera- 

*  See  before,  p.  98. 

t  Testimony  is  borne  to  the  zealous  liberality  of  the  merchants  of 
Antwerp,  both  by  De  Reyna  and  De  Valera,  in  the  prefaces  to  their 
translations  into  Spanish. 

t  MSS.  of  Archbishop  Parker  in  the  University  Library  of  Cam- 
bridge,  No.  cxiv.  334.     Strype's  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  148. 

§  Walchii  Eibliotheca  Theologica,  torn.  i.  p.  463-464.  De  Reyna 
also  published  at  Antwerp,  in  1583,  a  French  translation  ofChytraeus's 
History  of  the  Augsburg  Confession.  (lb.  p.  328.  Ukert,  Luther's 
Leben,  torn.  i.  p.  282.) 

II  Fechtii  Apparatus  ad  Hist.  Eccles.  Sec.  XVI.  p.  305.  In  1573, 
De  Reyna  published  at  Frankfort  the  Greek  text  of  the  Gospel  accord- 
ing to  John,  with  Tremellius's  Latin  translation  of  it  from  the  Syriac ; 
to  which  he  added  notes  of  his  own.  (Le  Long,  Bibl.  Sacra,  part  i>. 
vol.  iii.  cap.  iv.  sect.  iv.  §  11.  edit.  Masch.) 


258  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ture,  he  finished  his  translation  of  the  Bible,  which 
had  been  his  chief  employment  for  several  years.* 

The  Palatinate,  and  the  dominions  of  the  landgrave 
of  Hesse-Cassel,  opened  a  more  hospitable  retreat  to 
the  refugees  than  any  other  part  of  Germany.  It  was 
in  Heidelberg  that  De  Montes  published  that  work 
which  first  laid  open  to  the  eyes  of  Europe  the  mys- 
teries of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  and  the  sufferings 
which  his  Protestant  countrymen  had  endured  from 
that  inhuman  tribunal;!  while  a  confession  of  faith 
in  the  name  of  the  exiles  from  Spain,  along  with  an 
account  of  their  persecution,  came  from  the  press  of 
Cassel.J 

France  was  happily  in  such  a  state  as  to  offer  a 
refuge  to  the  Spanish  Protestants,  when  driven  from 
their  native  country.  Many  of  them  repaired  to  the 
city  of  Lyons,  where  means  of  religious  instruction 
had  been  provided  for  them,  as  well  as  for  their  bre- 
thren who  had  fled  from  Italy. §  The  French  Protes- 
tants showed  themselves  uniformly  disposed  to  sym- 

*  A  copy  of  this  Bible,  preserved  in  the  public  library  of  Basle,  has 
the  following  inscription  in  the  handwriting  of  the  translator:  "Cassio- 
dorusReiniusHispanusHispalensiis,incljt{E  hujus  Academiae  alumnus, 
hujus  sacrorum  librorum  versionis  Hispanicae  author,  quam  per  inte- 
grum decennium  elaboravit, et  auxilio  picntissimorum  ministrorum  hu- 
jus Ecclesiae  Basileensis  ex  decreta  prudentissimi  Senatus  ty  pis  ab  ho- 
nesto  viro  ThomaGuarino  cive  Basileensi  excusam  denium  emisit  in 
lucem,  in  perpetuam  gratitudinis  et  observantiae  monumentum  liunc 
librum  inclytaj  huic  Academiae  supplex  dicabat  A.  1570,  mense  Junio." 
(Miscellanea  Groningana,  torn.  iii.  p.  99,  100.) 

+  The  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  also  translated  into  Spanish,  for 
their  use.     (Gerdcsii  Florilegium  Libr.  Rar.  p.  77.  edit,  1763.) 

t  The  Confession  of  the  Spanish  exiles  was  published  in  Spanish 
and  German  at  Cassel  in  1601.  And  at  the  same  time  was  printed  a 
Brief  History  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  with  an  Account  of  the 
Spectackel  (auto-de-fe)  at  Valladolid,  21  May  1558.  (Freytag,  Ad- 
paratus  Littcrarius,  torn.  iii.  p.  196-200.)  The  Confession  was  printed 
in  German  at  Amberg  in  1611,  by  Joachim  Ursin,  who  published  at 
the  same  time  Hispanicce  Inqulsitionis  ct  Carnijicince  Secretiora.  (Ger- 
dcsii  Florilegium  Libr.  Rar.  p.  86-7.)  Learned  men  ditfer  as  to  the 
real  author,  who  concealed  himself  under  this  fictitious  name;  some 
fixing  on  Innocent  Gentillct,  the  author  of  Anti-Machiavel,  and  otliers 
on  Michael  Beringer.  The  materials  of  the  work  arc  chiefly  bor- 
rowed  from  that  of  Montanus. 

§  Sec  before,  p.  152,  note  §. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  259 

pathize  with  the  Spanish  refugees,  contributed  to 
their  support,  shared  with  them  that  degree  of  re- 
Hgious  hberty  which  they  happened  at  the  time  to 
enjoy,  and  admitted  several  of  them  to  be  pastors  of 
their  churches.'^  It  is  gratifying  to  find  the  French 
synods  also  receiving  into  their  communion  Moors, 
who  had  escaped,  along  with  the  Protestants,  from 
the  Inquisition  of  Spain,  and  now  abjured  Maho- 
metanism  under  circumstances  which  rendered  their 
change  of  religion  less  obnoxious  to  suspicion.! 

But  it  was  in  Geneva  and  England  that  the  greater 
part  of  Spanish  refugees  found  a  safe  harbour  and 
permanent  abode.  As  they  were  intimately  connected 
with  the  Italian  refugees  who  settled  in  these  places, 
we  shall,  according  to  a  former  promise,  combine 
the  affairs  of  both  in  the  following  narrative. 

As  early  as  1542,  there  was  formed  at  Geneva  a 
congregation  of  Italian  refugees,  Avhich  had  the  cha- 
pel of  the  Cardinal  d'Ostie  assigned  to  it  by  the  coun- 
cil, and  was  under  the  pastoral  inspection  of  Bernar- 
dino de  Sesvaz.J  Its  meetings  were,  however,  dis- 
continued after  a  short  time,  probably  by  the  removal 
of  some  of  its  principal  members ;  and  they  were  not 
resumed  until  the  year  1551. 

The  person  to  whom  its  revival  was  chiefly  owing 
was  Galeazzo  Caraccioli,  whose  life  presents  incidents 

*  Gaspar  Olaxa,  a  Spaniard,  was  minister  of  Castre?,  but  deposed 
for  fomenting  dissensions  in  that  Church,  before  the  year  1594. 
(Quick's  Synodicon,  vol.  i.  p.  172,  188.)  At  a  subsequent  period, 
Vincente  Solera  was  minister  of  St.  Lo,  in  Normandy.  (Ibid.  i.  509; 
ii.  241.)  In  1614,  Juan  de  Luna  and  Lorenzo  Fernandez,  Spaniards 
who  had  abjured  monachism  and  popery,  obtained,  on  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  church  of  Montauban,  pecuniary  relief  from  the  Na- 
tional Synod  of  Tonneins.  (Ibid.  i.  413-4.)  And  in  1620,  Geronimo 
Quevedo,  who  had  escaped  from  the  Inquisition,  received  a  pension 
from  the  Synod  of  Alez,  to  be  continued  at  the  discretion  of  the 
Church  at  Montpellier.  (Ibid.  ii.  43.) 

t  Ibid.  i.  491-2. 

t  Spon,  Ilistoire  de  Geneve,  torn.  i.  p.  290,  note;  4to  edition.  I 
have  not  met  with  the  name  of  Sesvaz  among  the  Italian  reformers, 
and  am  inclined  to  suppose  that  Ochino,  who  arrived  at  Geneva  in 
the  course  of  the  year  1542,  assumed  that  appellation  for  the  purpose 
of  concealment  at  the  beginning  of  his  exile. 


260  HISTORY    OF    THE 

which  would  excite  deep  interest  in  a  romance.*  He 
was  the  eldest  son  of  Nicol- Antonio  Carraccioli,  mar- 
quis of  Vico,  one  of  the  grandees  of  Naples.  His 
mother  was  of  the  noble  family  of  the  Carafli,  and 
sister  to  the  cardinal  of  that  name  who  was  raised  to 
the  pontifical  chair.  At  the  age  of  twenty,  he  married 
Vittoria,  daughter  to  the  duke  of  Nuceria,  who  brought 
him  a  large  fortune,  and  bore  him  six  children.  The 
emperor  Charles  Y.,  who  was  under  obligations  to 
the  marquis,  conferred  on  his  son  the  office  of  gentle- 
man-sewer; and  the  personal  accomplishments  of 
Galeazzo,  the  uniform  carrectness  of  his  manners,  his 
affabihty,  and  the  talents  which  he  discovered  for 
public  business,  led  all  who  knew  him  to  antici- 
pate his  gradual  and  certain  advancement  in  worldly 
honours.  Serious  impressions,  accompanied  with  a 
conviction  of  the  errors  of  the  church  of  Rome,  were 
made  on  his  mind  by  Valdes  and  JVIartyr,  at  the  time 
that  the  Protestant  tenets  were  secretly  embraced  by 
many  individuals  in  Naples ;  and  his  religious  dispo- 
sitions were  cherished  by  the  advices  of  that  pious 
and  elegant  scholar,  JNIarc-Antonio  Flaminio.t  Hav- 
ing accompanied  the  emperor  to  Germany,  his  ac- 
quaintance with  the  reformed  doctrine  was  enlarged 
by  conversation  with  some  of  the  leading  Protestants, 
and  the  perusal  of  their  writings;  and  his  attachment 
to  it  was  confirmed  by  an  interview  which,  on  his 
way  home,  he  had  at  Strasburg  with  JNIartyr,  who 
had  lately  forsaken  his  native  country  for  the  sake  of 
religion.  After  his  return  to  Naples,  he  endeavoured 
to  prevail  on  such  of  his  countrymen  as  held  the  same 
views  with  himself  to  meet  together  in  private  for 

*  The  Life  of  Carraccioli  was  written  in  liis  native  tongue,  by 
Nicola  Balbani,  minister  of  the  Italian  Church  at  Geneva.  It  was 
translated  into  Latin  by  Beza ;  into  French  by  Minutoli,  and  by  Sieur 
de  Lcstan ;  and  into  English  by  William  Crashaw. 

+  Giannone  says  that  Flaminio  wrote  a  letter  to  Caraccioli,  ex- 
horting him  to  adhere  to  the  Reformation,  which  had  been  embraced 
by  the  marchioness  of  Pcscara  and  others.  Tlie  letter,  rich  with  the 
unction  of  true  piety,  is  inserted  in  the  Life  of  Caraccioli,  cliap.  v. 
and  in  Schelhorn's  Anirenitates  EcelcsiasticfE,  toni.  ii.  p.  122-132 ; 
but  it  makes  no  mention  of  the  Reformation. 


RETORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  261 

their  mutual  edification ;  but  he  found  that  the  severe 
measures  lately  resorted  to  had  struck  terror  into  their 
minds,  and  that  they  were  resolved,  not  only  to  con- 
ceal their  sentiments,  but  also  to  practise  occasional 
conformation  to  the  rites  of  the  popish  worship.  He 
now  entered  into  serious  deliberation  with  himself  on 
one  of  the  most  delicate  and  painful  questions  which 
can  be  forced  on  a  person  in  his  circumstances.  What 
was  he  to  do  ?  Was  he  to  spend  his  whole  life  in  the 
midst  of  idolatry,  in  the  way  of  concealing  that  faith 
which  was  dearer  to  his  heart  than  life,  and  incurring 
the  threatening,  "  Him  that  confesseth  me  not  before 
men,  I  will  not  confess  before  my  Father  and  his  an- 
gels?" Or,  was  it  his  duty  to  leave  father,  and  wife, 
and  children,  and  houses,  and  lands,  for  Christ's  sake 
and  the  gospel's?  The  sacrifice  of  his  secular  digni- 
ties and  possessions  did  not  cost  him  a  sigh;  but  as 
often  as  he  reflected  on  the  distress  which  his  depar- 
ture would  inflict  on  his  aged  father,  who,  with  paren- 
tal pride,  regarded  him  as  the  heir  of  his  titles,  and 
the  stay  of  his  family — on  his  wife  whom  he  loved 
and  by  whom  he  was  loved  tenderly — and  on  the 
dear  pledges  of  their  union,  he  was  thrown  into  a 
state  of  unutterable  anguish,  and  started  back  with 
horror  from  the  resolution  to  which  conscience  had 
brought  him.  At  length,  by  an  heroic  efl^ort  of  zeal, 
which  few  can  imitate,  and  many  will  condemn,  he 
came  to  the  determination  of  bursting  the  tenderest 
ties  which  perhaps  ever  bound  man  to  country  and 
kindred.  His  nearest  relations,  so  far  from  being  re- 
concilable to  the  idea  of  his  abandoning  the  church  of 
Rome,  had  signified  their  displeasure  at  the  pious  life 
which  he  had  led  for  some  years,  and  at  his  evident 
disrelish  for  the  gaieties  of  the  court.  Having  no 
hope  of  procuring  their  consent,  he  concealed  his  de- 
sign from  them,  and,  availing  himself  of  the  pretext 
of  business  which  he  had  to  transact  with  the  empe- 
ror, set  out  for  Augsburg,  whence  he  speedily  repaired 
to  Geneva.*     The  intelligence  of  his  arrival  at  that 

*  His  arrival  in  that  city,  in  June,  1551,  excited  such  surprise  that 
he  was  at  first  suspected  by  some  as  a  spy.     (Spon,  i.  290.) 


262  HISTORY    OF    THE 

place,  and  his  abjuration  of  the  Roman  rehgion,  while 
it  filled  the  imperial  court  with  astonishment,  plunged 
his  family  into  the  deepest  distress.  One  of  his  cousins, 
who  had  been  his  intimate  friend,  was  despatched 
from  Naples  to  represent  the  grief  which  his  conduct 
had  caused,  and  urge  him  to  return.  As  soon  as  his 
refusal  was  known,  sentence  was  passed  against  him, 
and  he  was  deprived  of  all  the  property  which  he 
inherited  from  his  mother.  At  the  risk  of  his  life,  he 
went  to  Italy  and  met  his  father  at  Verona,  where  he 
remained  until  the  marquis  went  to  the  emperor,  and 
obtained,  as  a  special  favour,  that  the  sentence  pro- 
nounced against  his  son  should  not  extend  to  his 
grandson.  During  his  father's  absence,  Galeazzo  was 
waited  upon  by  the  celebrated  Fracastoro,  who  used 
his  great  eloquence  to  persuade  him  to  comply  with 
the  wishes  of  his  friends.  In  the  following  year  he 
met  his  father  a  second  time  at  Mantua,  when  an 
offer  was  made  to  him,  in  the  name  of  his  uncle, 
now  pope  Paul  IV.,  that  he  should  have  a  protection 
against  the  Inquisition,  provided  he  would  take  up 
his  residence  within  the  Venetian  states;  a  proposal 
to  which  neither  his  safety  nor  the  dictates  of  his  con- 
science would  permit  him  to  accede.  All  this  time 
he  had  been  refused  the  privilege  of  seeing  his  family ; 
and  it  was  not  until  the  end  of  the  year  1557  that  he 
received  a  letter  from  his  wife  Vittoria,  earnestly  re- 
questing an  interview  with  him,  and  fixing  the  place 
of  meeting.  Having  obtained  a  safe-conduct  from  the 
government  of  the  Orisons,  he  immediately  set  out  for 
Lesina,  an  island  on  the  coast  of  Dalmatia,  over  against 
his  paternal  castle  of  Vico ;  but,  on  his  arrival  at  the 
appointed  place,  Vittoria,  instead  of  making  her  ap- 
pearance, sent  two  of  her  sons  to  meet  their  father. 
He  had  scarcely  returned  to  Oeneva  from  this  fatiguing 
and  dangerous  journey,  when  he  received  another 
packet  from  his  wife,  apologizing  for  her  breach  of 
engagement,  and  begging  him  to  come  Avithout  delay 
to  the  same  place,  where  she  would  not  fail  to  meet 
him,  along  with  his  father  and  children.  On  his 
reaching  Lesina  the  second  time,  none  of  the  family 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  263 

had  arrived ;  and  unable  to  brook  further  delay,  he 
crossed  the  Gulf  of  Venice,  and  presented  himself  at 
his  father's  gate.  He  was  received  with  every  de- 
monstration of  joy,  and  for  some  days  the  castle  was 
thronged  with  friends  who  came  to  welcome  him. 
But  it  behoved  the  parties  to  come  at  last  to  an 
explanation.  Taking  Vittoria  aside,  Galeazzo  apolo- 
gized for  not  having  imparted  to  her  the  secret- of  his 
departure,  gave  a  full  account  of  the  reasons  of  his 
conduct,  and  begged  her  to  accompany  him  to  Gene- 
va ;  promising  that  no  constraint  should  be  laid  on  her 
conscience,  and  that  she  should  be  at  liberty  to  prac- 
tise her  religion  under  his  roof  After  many  protes- 
tations of  affection,  she  finally  replied,  that  she  could 
not  reside  out  of  Italy,  nor  in  a  place  where  any  other 
religion  than  that  of  the  church  of  Rome  was  pro- 
fessed; and  further,  that  she  could  not  live  with  him 
as  her  husband,  so  long  as  he  was  infected  with  heresy. 
Her  confessor  had  inculcated  upon  her  that  it  was  a 
damnable  sin  to  cohabit  with  a  heretic,  and  dreading 
the  influence  which  her  husband  might  exert  over 
her  mind,  had  prevented  her  from  keeping  her  first 
appointment.  The  day  fixed  for  his  departure  being 
come,  Galeazzo  went  to  take  leave  of  his  father,  who, 
laying  aside  the  affection  with  which  he  had  hitherto 
treated  him,  and  giving  way  to  his  passion,  loaded 
him  with  reproaches  and  curses.  On  quitting  his 
father's  apartment,  he  had  to  undergo  a  still  severer 
trial  of  his  sensibility.  He  found  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, with  a  number  of  his  friends,  waiting  for  him  in 
the  hall.  Bursting  into  tears,  and  embracing  her  hus- 
band, Vittoria  besought  him  not  to  leave  her  a  widow, 
and  her  babes  fatherless.  The  children  joined  in  the 
entreaties  of  their  mother;  and  the  eldest  daughter,  a 
fine  girl  of  thirteen,  grasping  his  knees,  refused  to  part 
with  him.  How  he  disengaged  himself,  he  knew  not; 
for  the  first  thing  which  brought  him  to  recollection 
was  the  noise  made  by  the  sailors  on  reaching  the 
opposite  shore  of  the  Gulf  He  used  often  to  relate 
to  his  intimate  friends,  that  the  parting  scene  continued 
long  to  haunt  his  mind;  and  that,  not  only  in  dreams^ 


264  HISTORY    OF    THE 

but  also  in  reveries  into  which  he  fell  during  the  day, 
he  thought  he  heard  the  angry  voice  of  his  father, 
saw  Vittoria  in  tears,  and  felt  his  daughter  dragging 
at  his  heels.  His  return  gave  great  joy  to  his  friends 
at  Geneva,  who,  in  proportion  to  the  confidence  which 
they  reposed  in  his  constancy,  were  alarmed  for  the 
safety  of  his  person. 

Painful  as  this  visit  had  been  to  his  feelings,  it  con- 
tributed to  restore  his  peace  of  mind,  by  convincing 
him  that  he  could  entertain  no  hope  of  enjoying  the 
society  of  his  family  except  on  the  condition  of  re- 
nouncing his  religion.  After  he  had  remained  nine 
years  in  exile,  he  consulted  Calvin  on  the  propriety  of 
contracting  a  second  marriage.  That  reformer,  who 
took  a  deep  interest  in  the  character  of  his  noble 
friend,  felt  great  scruples  as  to  the  expediency  of  this 
step,  but  ultimately  gave  his  approbation  to  it,  after 
he  had  consulted  the  divines  of  Switzerland  and  the 
Grisons.  Accordingly,  the  courts  of  Geneva  having 
legally  pronounced  a  sentence  of  divorce  against  Vit- 
toria, on  the  ground  of  her  obstinate  refusal  to  live 
with  her  husband,  he  married  Anne  Fremejere,  the 
widow  of  a  French  refugee  from  Rouen,  with  whom 
he  continued  to  live  happily  in  a  state  of  dignified 
frugality.  On  being  informed  of  this  part  of  his  con- 
duct, we  feel  as  if  it  detracted  from  the  high  unsullied 
virtue  which  Galeazzo  had  hitherto  displayed.  His 
second  nuptials,  though  contracted  according  to  the 
rules  of  the  canon  law,  gave  occasion  of  reproach  to 
the  keen  adversaries  of  the  Reformation ;  but  they  did 
not  lower  him  in  the  estimation  of  his  acquaintance  of 
either  religious  persuasion.  By  the  citizens  of  Geneva 
he  was  all  along  held  in  the  highest  respect ;  the  free- 
dom of  the  city  had  been  conferred  on  him  soon  after 
his  arrival  among  them;  a  house  was  allotted  to  him 
by  the  public;  and  he  Avas  admitted  a  member  both 
of  the  great  and  small  council.  Princes,  ambassa- 
dors, and  learned  men.  Popish  as  well  as  Protestant, 
who  visited  the  city,  regularly  paid  their  respects  to 
the  marquis;  a  title  which  was  always  given  him, 
though  he  refused  to  assume  it  even  after  the  death 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  265 

of  his  father.  Nothing  gave  greater  offence  to  the 
papal  court,  and  the  government  of  Naples,  than  his 
choosing  the  see  of  heresy  for  his  residence.  It  was 
probably  with  the  view  of  removing  this  prejudice, 
and  thereby  procuring  remittances  from  his  patrimo- 
nial estate,'that  he  consented,  in  the  spring  of  1572,  to 
a  proposal  made  by  Admiral  Coligni  to  take  up  his 
abode  with  him;*  but  providentially  he  was  prevented 
from  removing  to  France  so  soon  as  he  had  intended, 
and  thus  escaped  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew, 
which  took  place  in  August  that  year.  After  residing 
five  years  at  Nion  and  Lausanne  for  the  sake  of 
economy  in  his  living,  he  returned  to  Geneva,  which 
he  did  not  again  leave  until  his  death,  which  hap- 
pened in  1586,  in  the  sixty-eighth  year  of  his  age.t 

The  first  thing  which  engaged  the  attention  of  Ca- 
raccioli,  after  his  settlement  in  Geneva,  was  the  re-or- 
ganizing of  the  Italian  congregation.  Lattantio  Rag- 
noni,  a  gentleman  of  Sienna,  whom  he  had  known  at 
Naples,  having  arrived  a  few  days  after  him,  and 
given  proofs  of  his  orthodoxy  and  qualifications  for 
public  teaching,  was  persuaded  by  him  to  undertake 
the  office  of  pastor  to  his  countrymen,  f  They  ac- 
cordingly recommenced  their  public  exercises  in  the 
Magdalene  Church,  which  was  assigned  to  them  by 
the  council. §  Caraccioli  himself  became  one  of  their 
elders,  and  by  the  respectability  of  his  character,  and 
the  wisdom  of  his  counsels,  contributed  more  than  any 
other  individual  to  the  permanent  prosperity  of  that 
church.  In  the  close  of  the  year  1553,  they  obtained 
a  preacher  of  greater  abilities  in  Celso  Massimiliano, 
visually  called  Martinengo,  because  he  was  the  son  ojf 

*  On  that  occasion  the  Council  of  Geneva  testified  the  strongest 
reluctance  to  consent  to  his  departure.  They  promised  to  release  him 
from  all  public  charges,  and  to  supply  him  with  every  thing  which 
he  needed  ;  while  the  Sieurs  Koset  and  Franc  offered  him  the  use  of 
their  country  houses.  (Fragmens,  extraits  des  Registres  de  Geneve, 
p.  44.) 

t  t  Life  of  Galeacius  Caracciolus,  Marquis  of  Vico,  passim.  Gian- 
none,  Hist,  de  Naples,  liv.  xxxii.  chap.  5.  Gerdesii  Italia  Reforinata, 
p.  104-112.     Spon,  i.  290.     Fragmens,  ut  supra,  p.  16,  22,  24,  50. 

t  Life  of  Caracciolus,  chap.  xi. 

§  Spon,  Hist,  de  Geneve,  torn.  i.  p.  290. 

18 


266  HISTORY    OF    THE 

a  count  of  that  name,  in  the  territories  of  Brescia.  He 
had  entered  into  the  order  of  canons  regular,  and 
having  imbibed  the  reformed  doctrine  from  Peter 
Martyr,  preached  it  for  some  time  with  great  boldness 
and  eloquence;  but  understanding  that  snares  were 
laid  for  his  life,  he  fled  to  the  Valteline,  whence  he 
came  to  Basle,  with  the  intention  of  proceeding  to 
England.  By  the  importunities  of  Caraccioli  he  was 
induced  to  abandon  his  intended  journey,  and  to  un- 
dertake the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Italian  church  at 
Geneva.*  On  his  death  in  1557,  Calvin  exerted  him- 
self to  procure  for  them  the  services  of  Martyr  and 
Zanchi,  who  excused  themselves  on  account  of  their 
engagements;  and  the  church  appears  to  have  re- 
mained under  the  sole  inspection  of  Ragnonit  until 
1559,  when  they  procured  Nicola  Balbani,  who  con- 
tinued to  serve  them  with  much  approbation  nearly 
to  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century.  J  It  would  seem 
that  this  situation  was  also  held  by  Jean  Baptiste 
Rotan,  a  learned  man,  who,  on  removing  to  France, 
incurred  the  suspicion  ofseeking  to  betray  the  reform- 
ed church  by  reconciling  it  to  Rome.§ 

The  peace  of  the  Italian  church  was  for  some  time 
disturbed  by  the  antitrinitarian  controversy.  Alciati, 
a  military  officer  from  Milan,  and  Blandrata,  a  physi- 
cian from  Piedmont,  in  the  visits  which  they  made  to 
Geneva,  privately  disseminated  their  sentiments,  wliich 
were  adopted  by  Valentinus  Gentilis,  a  native  of  Co- 
senza  in  Calabria,  who  had  joined  the  Italian  congre- 
gation. The  celebrated  lawyer  Gribaldo,  after  difter- 
ing  with  Calvin,  had  taken  up  his  residence  at  Far- 
gias,  a  villa  which  he  purchased  in  the  neighbouring 

*  Zanchii  Epist.  ad  Landgravium:  Opera,  torn.  vii.  p.  3.  Spon,  i. 
299,  300.     Life  of  Caraceiolus,  chap.  xvii. 

t  It  appears  from  a  letter  of  Calvin,  that  Lattantio  Ragnoni  sur- 
vived Martinengo.     (Calvini  Epist.  p.  128 :     Opera,  torn,  ix.) 

t  Senebicr,  Hist.  Lit.  de  Geneve,  torn.  i.  p.  115,  116.  "The  Italian 
minister  of  Geneva,  Balbani,  (says  Joseph  Scaliger,)  carried  a  barrctte 
(a  leather  cap  or  cowl)  in  his  breast,  which  he  wore  in  the  pulpit,  and 
put  his  hat  over  it  when  he  preached  ;  as  all  the  other  Gcnevesc  pas- 
tors wear  small  flat  bonnets."     (Sccunda  Scaligerana,  voc.  Darrette.) 

§  Bock,  Hist.  Antitrin.  torn.  ii.  p.  665.  Conf.  Gerdesii  Ital.  Ref.  p. 
237-329,  Senebicr,  i.  395. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  267 

district  of  Gex,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Bern,  from 
which  he  kept  up  an  intercourse  with  the  secret  agi- 
tators in  Geneva.  They  had  caused  great  uneasiness 
to  Martinengo,  who,  in  recommending  his  cliurch  to 
the  care  of  Calvin,  when  he  was  on  his  death-bed, 
adjured  that  reformer  to  guard  them  against  the  arts 
of  these  restless  spirits.*  In  concert  with  Ragnoni, 
their  surviving  pastor,  Calvin  exerted  himself  in  allay- 
ing these  dissensions,  and,  in  1558,  drew  up  a  confes- 
sion of  faith  for  the  use  of  the  Italian  congregation. 
This  was  subscribed  by  Gentilis,  under  the  pain  of 
perjury  if  he  should  afterwards  contradict  it;  but,  en- 
couraged by  Gribaldo,  he  began  again  to  spread  the 
opinions  which  he  had  renounced,  upon  which  a  pro- 
cess was  commenced  against  him,  which  issued  in  his 
expulsion  from  the  city.t 

The  internal  peace  of  the  Italian  church  being  res- 
tored, it  continued  to  flourish,  and  gained  fresh  acces- 
sions every  year  by  the  arrival  of  persons  from  the 
different  parts  of  Italy.  All  classes  in  Geneva,  the 
magistrates,  the  ministers,  and  the  citizens,  vied  with 
each  other  in  their  kind  attention  to  the  exiles  from 
Italy,  who  were  admitted  to  privileges,  and  advanced 
to  offices,  in  common  with  the  native  inhabitants  of 
the  city.  Nor  had  the  republic  any  reason  to  repent 
of  this  liberal  policy.  The  adopted  strangers  trans- 
ferred their  loyalty  and  affections  to  Geneva;  and 
among  those  who  have  served  her  most  honourably 
in  the  Senate,  the  academy,  and  the  field,  from  that 
time  to  the  present,  we  recognize  with  pleasure  Italian 
refugees  and  their  descendants.  It  is  sufficient  here 
to  mention  the  names  of  Diodati,  Turretini,  Calandri- 
ni,  Burlamaqui,  Micheli,  Minutoli,  Butini,  and  Of- 
fredi. 

Individual  Spaniards,  who  found  it  necessary  to  fly 
from  the  Inquisition,  had  taken  refuge  in  Geneva  from 
the  time  that  Egidio  was  thrown  into  prison  at  Se- 

*  Calvini  Epistolae,  p.  128:  Opera,  torn,  ix. 

t  Bock,  Hist.  Antitrin.  torn.  ii.  p.  427-443,  466-472.  Calvini  Epist. 
p.  160-162.    Spon,  i.  301-304. 


268  HISTORY    OF    THE 

ville.*  In  1557,  additions  were  made  to  their  num- 
ber :t  and  the  persecution  increasing  during  tlie  two 
subsequent  years,  emigrants  poured  in  from  all  parts 
of  the  Peninsula.!  The  council  extended  to  them 
the  privileges  which  had  been  already  granted  to  the 
emigrants  from  Italy.  It  was  Juan  Perez,  to  whom 
his  countrymen  were  otherwise  so  much  indebted, § 
who  first  formed  a  Spanish  church  in  Geneva. ||  After 
his  departure  to  France,  they  enjoyed  the  pastoral  la- 
bours of  De  Reyna  and  others  of  their  learned  coun- 
trymen; but,  as  many  of  their  members  removed  to 
England  and  other  places,  and  as  the  most  of  them  un- 
derstood Italian,  they  adjoined  themselves,  before  the 
close  of  the  century,  to  the  church  which  was  placed 
under  the  charge  of  Balbani.ll  One  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  their  number,  both  in  point  of  learning 
and  piety,  was  Pedro  Gales.  While  he  taught  Greek 
and  jurisprudence  in  Italy,  he  had  fallen  under  the 
suspicion  of  heresy,  and  being  put  to  the  torture  at 
Rome,  lost  one  of  his  eyes.  Escaping  from  prison, 
he  came  to  Geneva  about  the  year  1580,  and  was  ap- 
pointed joint  professor  of  philosophy  with  Julio  Paci, 
an  Italian  lawyer.**  During  an  interruption  of  the 
academical  exercises  caused  by  the  attempts  of  the 
duke  of  Savoy  on  Geneva,  Gales  was  persuaded  to 
accept  the  rectorship  of  the  college  of  Guienne  at 

*  See  before,  p,  151. 

t  "  Oct.  14,  1557.  On  re(;oit  300  habitans  le  meme  matin  ;  savoir, 
200  Francois,  50  Anglois,  25  Italiens,  4  Espagnols,  &.c.;  tcUcnicnt 
que  rantichambrc  du  conseil  ne  les  pouvoit  tous  contenir."  (F'rag- 
mens  Biographiques  et  Historiques,  cxtraits  des  Registrcs  de  Geneve, 
p.  24.) 

t  In  a  letter,  dated  Zurich,  10  June  1558,  Martyr  writes  to  Uten- 
hovius,  "  Quin  et  Hispani,  ac  ii  docti  et  probi  viri,  turmatim  Gene- 
van! confluunt."     (Gerdesii  Scriniuin  Antiq.  torn.  ii.  p.  673.) 

§  h'ec  beroic,  p.  152. 

II  Bczvc  Icones,  sig.  Ii.  iij. ;  comp.  Spon,  i.  299. 

IT  In  the  epistle  dedicatory  to  his  edition  of  the  Spanish  Confession 
of  Faith,  Ebcrhardt  von  Rctrodt  says  that,  when  he  was  at  Geneva, 
in  1581,  he  heard  "  Sign.  Balbado"  (Balbani)  preach  to  a  large  con- 
gregation of  Itahans  and  Spaniards,  "in  their  own  church." 

**  Paei  was  the  intimate  friend  of  the  learned  Peiresc.  Tiraboschi 
labours  to  show  that  he  returned  to  the  Roman  faith  in  his  latter  days ; 
but  his  arguments  are  inconclusive. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  269 

Bordeaux.  But  finding  his  situation  unpleasant,  in 
consequence  of  the  civil  wars  which  then  raged  in 
France,  and  the  envy  of  one  of  his  colleagues,  he  left 
it,  with  the  intention  of  repairing  to  the  Netherlands. 
On  his  journey  he  was  seized  by  some  of  the  parti- 
sans of  the  League,  and  delivered  first  to  his  country- 
men, and  afterwards  to  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  by 
whose  sentence  he  was  committed  to  the  flames,  after 
making  an  undaunted  profession  of  his  faith.*  He 
had  made  a  large  collection  of  ancient  manuscripts, 
with  annotations  of  his  own,  part  of  which  was  pre- 
served, and  has  been  highly  prized  by  the  learned.t 

England  had  the  honour  of  opening  a  harbour  to 
Protestants  of  every  country  who  fled  from  persecu- 
tion at  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation.  The  first 
congregation  of  strangers  formed  in  London  was  the 
Dutch  or  German,  which  met  in  the  church  of  Aus- 
tin Friars,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  learned 
Polish  nobleman,  John  a  Lasco.  It  was  followed  by 
the  erection  of  French  and  Italian  congregations.  As 
early  as  1551  there  was  an  Italian  church  in  London, 
of  which  Michael  Angelo  Florio  was  pastor.  J  On 
its  restoration  after  the  death  of  queen  Mary,  Florio 
returned ;  but,  owing  to  some  irregularity  of  conduct, 
he  was  not  admitted  to  his  former  place,  which  was 
conferred  on  Jeronimo  Jerlito.§     The   most   distin- 

*  Meursii  Athenae  Batavae,  p.  333.  The  Jesuit  Andreas  Schottus, 
unwilling  to  have  it  thought  that  a  person  of  such  erudition  was  put 
to  death  by  the  Inquisition,  says,  "  It  is  reported  that  he  was  seized 
along  with  his  wife  by  a  military  band,  and  expired  in  the  Pyrenees." 
(Schotti  Bibliotheca  Hispanica,  p.  612.) 

t  Cujas,  Casaubon,  and  Father  Labbe  have  all  extolled  the  learning 
of  Gales.  (Colomesiana,  Collection  par  des  Maizeaux,  torn.  i.  p.  612, 
613.  Bayle,  Diet.  art.  Gales,  Pierre.)  The  person  whom  I  have  called 
Pedro  Gales  in  p.  138,  was,  I  am  satisfied  on  reflection,  Nicolaus 
Gallasius,  or  de  Gallars,  one  of  the  ministers  of  Geneva. 

tScrinium  Antiquarium,  torn.  ii.  p.  674;  torn.  iv.  p.  478.  Florio  is 
the  author  of  an  extremely  rare  work:  "  Historia  de  la  Vita  e  de  la 
Morte  de  Pillustriss.  Signora  Giovanna  Graia,  gia  Regina  eletta  e 
publicata  d'Inghilterra.  Con  I'aggiunto  d'una  doctiss.  disputa...e  nel' 
Proemio  de  I'Authore,  M.  Michelangelo  Florio  Florentine,  gia  Predi- 
catore  famoso  del'  Sant'  Evangclo  in  piu  cita  d'ltalia,  et  in  I^ondra. 
Stampato  appresso  Richardo  Pittore,  ne  I'anno  di  Christo  1607." 

^  Strype's  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  108,  135. 


270  HISTORY    OF    THE 

guished  of  its  members  were  Jacomo  Contio,  better 
known  as  an  author  by  the  name  of  Acontius,  who 
was  suspended  for  some  time  from  communion,  on 
suspicion  of  his  being  infected  with  Arian  and  Pela- 
gian tenets;"*  his  friend  Battista  CastigUoni,  who  had 
a  place  at  court,  and  taught  Itahan  to  queen  EUza- 
beth;t  JuUo  Borgarusci,  pliysician  to  the  earl  of  Lei- 
cester; J  Camillo  Cardoini,  a  Neapohtan  nobleman, 
whose  son  was  afterwards  made  governor  of  Calabria, 
as  a  reward  for  abjuring  the  Protestant  religion,§  and 
Albericus  Gentilis,  who  became  professor  of  civil  law 
at  Oxford. II  The  foreign  Italian  congregation  ap- 
pears to  have  been  vinited  to  the  French  in  the  course 
of  the  sixteenth  century;  but  in  1618  the  noted  An- 
tonio de  Dominis,  archbishop  of  Spalatro,  preached 
in  Italian  at  London,  and  had  one  of  the  family  of 
Calandrini  appointed  as  his  colleague.lF 

There  had  been  Spaniards  in  England  from  the 
time  of  Henry  VIIL,  whose  first  queen  belonged  to 
that  nation.  Her  daughter  Mary  entertained  them 
about  her  person,  and  their  number  greatly  increased 
after  her  marriage  to  Philip  II.  of  Spain.  As  several 
of  them  were  converted  to  Protestantism,  some  wri- 
ters are  of  opinion  that  they  must  have  heard  the 
gospel  preached  in  their  native  tongue  during  the 
reign  of  Edward  VI.**  But  it  does  not  appear  that 
the  Spanish  Protestants  were  formed  into  a  congre- 
gation until  the  accession  of  Elizabeth.     During  the 

*  Bayle,  Diet.  art.  Acontius;  addition  in  Eng".  Trans.  Gerdesii 
Hist.  Rcf.  torn.  iii.  Append.  No.  xvi.  Serin.  Antiq.  torn.  vii.  p.  123. 
Strype's  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  45. 

t  Bayle,  nt  supra.  Gerdesii  Italia  Reformata,  p.  166. 

■t  Strype's  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  225. 

§  Wood's  Fasti  Oxon.  col.  228.  edit.  Bliss.  Senebier,  Hist.  Lit.  de 
Geneve,  torn.  ii.  p.  181. 

II  Malteo  Gentile,  a  physician  of  Ancona,  left  his  native  country 
for  religion,  accompanied  by  his  two  sons,  Alberico  and  Scipio.  The 
latter  settled  with  his  father  in  Germany,  and  became  as  eminent  a 
civilian  as  his  brother.  (Wood's  Athena?  Oxon.  vol.  ii.  p.  90.  Fasti 
Oxon.  p.  217,  edit.  Bliss.     Gerdesii  Ital.  Ref.  p.  271-274.) 

IT  Wodrow's  Life  of  Robert  Boyd  of  Trochrig,  p.  260  ;  MS.  in  the 
Library  of  the  college  of  Glasgow. 

**  Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  p.  246. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  271 

year  1559  they  met  for  worship  hi  a  private  house  in 
London,  and  had  one  Cassiodoro  for  their  preacher. 
In  the  course  of  the  following  year  they  presented  a 
petition  to  secretary  Cecil,  and  Grindal,  bishop  of 
London,  for  liberty  to  meet  in  public.  They  had 
hitherto  refrained,  they  said,  from  taking  this  step,  by 
the  advice  of  persons  whom  they  greatly  respected, 
and  from  fear  of  giving  offence ;  but  they  were  con- 
vinced that  their  continuing  to  do  so  was  no  less  dis- 
creditable to  the  religion  which  they  professed,  than  it 
was  incommodious  to  themselves.  Their  adversaries 
took  occasion  to  say,  that  they  must  surely  harbour 
some  monstrous  tenets,  detested  even  by  Lutherans, 
when  they  were  not  permitted,  or  did  not  venture,  to 
assemble  publicly  in  a  city  where  Protestants  from 
every  country  were  allowed  this  privilege.  Some  of 
their  countrymen  had  withdrawn  from  their  assembly, 
and  others  had  declined  to  join  it,  lest  they  should 
suffer  in  the  trade  which  they  carried  on  with  Spain, 
from  their  attendance  on  a  private  and  unauthorized 
conventicle.  They  added,  that  if  the  king  of  Spain 
complained  of  the  liberty  granted  to  them,  they  would 
desist  from  the  exercise  of  it,  and  quit  the  kingdom 
rather  than  involve  it  in  a  quarrel  with  foreign  states.* 
The  government  was  favourable  to  their  application, 
and  it  would  seem  that  they  met  soon  after  in  one  of 
the  city  churches,  whose  ministers,  as  stated  in  their 
petition,  were  willing  to  accommodate  them.  London 
was  not  the  only  place  which  furnished  them  with  an 
asylum;  but  in  other  towns  both  they  and  the  Italians 
generally  assembled  for  worship  along  with  the  French 
emigrants.!  With  the  view  of  counteracting  the 
invidious  and  unfounded  reports  circulated  against 

*  Strype's  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  47-48.  Strype's  Annals  of  the  Re- 
formation, vol.  i.  p.  237. 

t  Besides  the  metropohs,  the  Dutch  and  French  exiles  settled,  and 
for  some  time  had  churches,  in  Southwark,  Canterbury,  Norwich, 
Colchester,  Maidstone,  Sandwich,  and  Southampton.  (Strype's  Annals, 
i.  554.)  In  1575,  John  Migrode  was  pastor  of  the  Dutch  church  in 
Norwich.  (Bibl.  Bremensis,  class  vi.  p.  518.)  And  in  1583,  Mons. 
Mary  was  pastor  of  the  French  church  in  that  city.  (Aymon,  Sy- 
nodes  Nationaux  des  Eglises  Reforraees  de  France,  torn.  i.  p.  169.) 


272  HISTORY    OF    THE 

their  orthodoxy,  the  Spanish  Protestants  in  England 
drew  up  and  pubhshed  a  confession  of  their  faith, 
which  was  adopted  by  their  brethren  scattered  in 
other  countries.*  This  document  proves  that  the 
Spanish  exiles,  while  they  held  the  doctrines  common 
to  all  Protestants,  were  favourable  to  the  views  which 
the  reformed  churches  maintained  in  their  controversy 
with  the  Lutherans  respecting  the  eucharist.t 

The  countenance  granted  by  the  government  of 
England  to  Protestant  exiles,  and  particularly  to  Spa- 
niards, gave  great  offence  to  the  pope,  and  to  the 
king  of  Spain.  It  was  specified  as  one  of  the  charges 
against  Elizabeth,  in  the  bull  of  Pius  V.  excommuni- 
cating that  princess.  This  drew  from  bishop  Jewel 
the  following  triumphant  reply.  Having  mentioned 
that  they  had  either  lost  or  left  behind  them  their  all, 
goods,  lands,  and  houses,  he  goes  on  to  say :  "  Not  for 
adultery,  or  theft,  or  treason,  but  for  the  profession  of 
the  gospel.  It  pleased  God  here  to  cast  them  on  land. 
The  queen,  of  her  gracious  pity,  granted  them  har- 
bour. Is  it  become  a  heinous  thing  to  show  mercy? 
God  willed  the  children  of  Israel  to  love  the  stran- 
ger, because  they  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt. 
He  that  showeth  mercy  shall  find  mercy.  But  what 
was  the  number  of  such  who  came  in  unto  us?  Thiee 

*  Gerdesius  says  it  was  published  at  London  in  1559.  (Florile- 
g'lum  Libr.  Rar.  p.  87.  edit.  an.  1763.  Scrinium  Antiq.  torn.  i.  p.  151.) 
The  following  is  its  title,  as'given  in  an  edition  with  a  German  trans- 
lation :  "  Confession  de  Fe  Christiana  hecha  por  ciertos  Ficles  Es- 
panoles,  los  quales  huyendo  los  abusos  de  la  Iglesia  Romana,  y  la 
crueldad  de  la  Inquisition  de  Espana,  dexaron  su  patria,  para  ser  rc- 
cibidos  de  la  Iglesia  de  los  Fieles  por  hcrnianos  in  Christo.  Anfen- 
glich  in  Hispanischcr  Sprachen  beschricben  jetzt  aber  alien  frommen 
Christen  zu  Nutz  und  Trost  verteuchet,  durch  Ebcrhardten  von  Hed- 
rodt  Furstl.  Hessischcn  bestallen  Hauptman  uber  I.  F.  G.  Leibguardia 
im  Schlos  und  Vestung  Cassel.  Gedruckt  zu  Cassel  durch  VVillcm 
Wessel,  1601."  8vo.  folior.  69.  (Freytag,  Adparatus  Litter,  torn.  iii. 
p.  196-200.)  V       J    6,       F 

t  See  the  extracts  from  the  Spanish  Confession  given  by  Gerdesius, 
in  his  Scrinium  Antiquarium,  torn.  i.  p.  149,  150.  The  same  fact  is 
confirmed  by  another  publication  :  "  Anton.  Corrani,  dicti  Bcllcrive, 
Epistola  ad  Fratrcs  Augustanoe  Confessionis,  data  Antwcrpia?,  d.  21 
Januarii  1567;"  which  was  printed  in  Latin,  French,  German,  and 
English. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  273 

or  four  thousand.  Thanks  be  to  God,  this  realm  is 
able  to  receive  them,  if  the  number  be  greater.  And 
why  may  not  queen  Elizabeth  receive  a  few  afflicted 
members  of  Christ,  which  are  compelled  to  carry  his 
cross?  Whom,  when  he  thought  good  to  bring  safely 
by  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  and  to  set  in  at  our  havens, 
should  we  cruelly  have  driven  them  back  again,  or 
drowned  them,  or  hanged  them,  or  starved  them? 
Would  the  vicar  of  Christ  give  this  counsel?  Or,  if  a 
king  receive  such,  and  give  them  succour,  must  he 
therefore  be  deprived?  They  are  our  brethren;  they 
live  not  idly.  If  they  take  houses  of  us,  they  pay 
rent  for  them;  they  hold  not  our  grounds,  but  by 
making  due  recompense.  They  beg  not  in  our  streets, 
nor  crave  any  thing  at  our  hands,  but  to  breathe  our 
air,  and  to  see  our  sun.  They  labour  truly,  they  Hve 
sparefully ;  they  are  good  examples  of  virtue,  travail, 
faith,  and  patience.  The  towns  in  which  they  abide 
are  happy,  for  God  doth  follow  them  with  his  bless- 
ings." Referring  to  the  Spaniards  who  came  to  Eng- 
land in  the  reign  of  queen  Mary,  the  bishop  thus 
contrasts  them  with  their  Protestant  countrymen. 
"  These  are  few,  those  were  many ;  these  are  poor 
and  miserable,  those  were  lofty  and  proud ;  these  are 
naked,  those  were  armed ;  these  are  spoiled  by  others, 
those  came  to  spoil  us;  these  are  driven  from  their 
country,  those  came  to  drive  us  from  our  country; 
these  came  to  save  their  lives,  those  came  to  have 
our  lives.  If  we  were  content  to  bear  those  then,  let 
us  not  grieve  now  to  bear  these."* 

The  Spanish  monarch  was  not  less  indignant  than 
his  Holiness  at  the  asylum  granted  to  his  Protestant 
subjects.  Not  contented  with  persecuting  them  at 
home,  he  hunted  them  in  every  country  to  which 
they  were  driven.  Large  sums  of  money  were  ap- 
propriated to  the  maintaining  of  spies,  and  defray- 
ing other  expenses  incurred  by  that  disgraceful 
traffic.  In  France  and  Germany,  individuals  were 
from  time  to  time  carried  ofl',  and  delivered  over  to 
the  Inquisition.     Not  daring  to  make  such  attempts 

*  View  of  a  Seditious  Bull,  in  Bishop  Jewel's  Works, 


274  HISTORY    OF    THE 

on  the  free  soil  of  England,  the  emissaries  of  Spain 
had  recourse  to  methods  equally  infamous.  They 
required  the  English  government  to  deliver  up  the 
refugees  as  traitors  and  criminals  Avho  had  fled  from 
justice.  Francisco  Farias  and  Nicholas  Molino,  two 
respectable  members  of  the  Spanish  congregation, 
who  had  resided  eight  years  in  this  country,  were  de- 
nounced by  one  of  their  countrymen  who  acted  as  a 
spy  in  London.  In  consequence  of  this,  the  Spanish 
ambassador  received  instructions  from  his  court  to 
demand  of  Elizabeth,  that  they  should  be  sent  home 
to  be  tried  for  crimes  which  were  laid  to  their  charge ; 
and  to  induce  her  to  comply  with  the  request,  their 
names  were  coupled  with  tliat  of  a  notorious  malefac- 
tor who  had  lately  escaped  from  Flanders.  If  these 
innocent  men  had  not  had  friends  at  court  who  knew 
from  experience  to  sympathize  with  the  exile,  they 
might  have  been  delivered  up  to  a  cruel  death.*  To 
enable  it  to  meet  an^^  future  demand  of  this  kind,  the 
English  government  adopted  measures  to  obtain  an 
exact  account  of  all  the  members  of  the  foreign  con- 
gregations who  had  come  from  any  part  of  the  king 
of  Spain's  dominions.! 

In  the  year  1568,  Corranus  came  from  Antwerp, 
and  undertook  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Spanish  con- 
gregation in  London.  Having  been  involved  in  a 
quarrel  with  Jerlito  and  Cousin,  the  ministers  of  the 
Italian  and  French  congregations,  who  accused  him 
of  error  and  defamation,  the  parties  appealed  to  Beza, 
who  referred  the  controversy  to  bishop  Grindal.  The 
commissioners  named  by  the  bishop  to  try  the  cause 
suspended  Corranus  from  preaching. J  He  appears 
to  have  been  a  man  of  a  hot  temper  ;§  but  his  learn- 

*  Strype's  Life  of  Grindal,  p.  109;  Append.  No.  xiii. 

t  Ibid.  p.  110,  111.  In  the  year  1568,  the  Spaniards  and  Italians 
who  had  been  subjects  of  the  king  of  Spain,  amounted  to  about  fitly- 
seven  in  London  alone.     (Ibid.  p.  135.) 

i  Ibid.  p.  125-127,  147-149. 

§  When  the  sentenee  was  intimated  to  him,  he  exclaimed,  "  It 
seems  you  English  are  determined  to  wage  both  a  civil  and  ecclesias- 
tical war  against  the  Spaniards;  a  civil  war  by  taking  their  ships,  an 
ecclesiastical  in  my  person." 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  275 

ing  recommended  him  to  secretary  Cecil,  by  whose 
influence  the  suspension  was  taken  off,  and  he  was 
made  reader  of  divinity  in  the  Temple.     When  he 
went  to  Oxford  at  a  subsequent  period,  some  of  the 
heads  of  colleges  scrupled  to  receive  him,  on  account 
of  the  suspicions  formerly  entertained  as  to  his  ortho- 
doxy;  but  their  objections  were  overcome,  and  he  was 
admitted  to  read  lectures  on  theology  in  the  univer- 
sity, as  well  as  to  hold  a  living  in  the  church  of  Eng- 
land.*    Though  there  is  no  evidence  that  Cypriano 
de  Valera  ever  acted  as  a  preacher  in  England,  yet 
he  took  an  active  part  in  the  afl'airs  of  the  foreign 
churches.t     But  his  labours  were  chiefly  by  means 
of  the  press,  in  which  respect  he  was  more  extensive- 
ly beneficial  to  his  countrymen  than  any  of  the  exiles. 
He  arrived  in  England  soon  after  the  accession  of 
Elizabeth,  and  appears  to  have  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  life  chiefly  in  this  country.     After  studying  for 
some  time  at  both  universities,:}:  he  devoted  himself 
to  the  writing  of  original  works  in  Spanish,  and  the 
translating  of  others  into  that  language.     The  most 
of  these  were  published  in  England,  where  also  his 
translation  of  the  Bible,  though  printed  abroad,  was 
prepared  for  the  press.    It  would  seem  that  the  circu- 
lation of  the  last-mentioned  work  in  Spain  was  much 
more  extensive  than  we  could  have  expected.  § 

*  Strype's  Life  of  Grlndal,  p.  149.  Wood's  AthensB  Oxon.  vol.  i. 
p.  578-581.  Fasti,  vol.  i.  p.  203.  edit.  Bliss.  He  died  in  1591,  aged 
sixty-four. 

t  Riederer,  Nachrichten,  torn.  iii.  p.  482. 

t  The  act  of  his  incorporation  at  Oxford,  21  Feb.  1565,  bears,  that 
he  was  M.  A.  of  Cambridge,  of  three  years'  standing.  He  had  ob- 
tained the  degree  of  B.  A.  Cantab,  in  1559-60.  (VV^ood's  Fasti  Oxon. 
vol.  i.  p.  169.) 

§  To  his  works  already  mentioned,  the  following  may  be  added. 
"  El  Catholico  Reformado."  (Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nov.  torn.  i.  p.  261.) 
"  Catecismo,  que  significa,  forma  de  instrucion,  &c.  En  casa  de  Ri- 
cardo  del  Campo,  1596."  This  is  a  translation  of  Calvin's  Catechism, 
and  was  printed  at  the  same  press,  and  in  the  same  year,  with  Va- 
lera's  Spanish  New  Testament.  (Riederer,  Nachrichten,  torn.  iii.  p. 
475-484.)  His  Spanish  translation  of  Calvin's  Institutions  appeared 
in  1597.  (Gerdesii  Florilegium  Libr.  Rar.  p.  55.)  The  celebrated 
Diodati,  in  a  letter  to  the  Synod  of  Alen^on,  dated  1  May  1637,  says: 
"  The  new  Spanish  translation  of  Cyprian  de  Vallera  hath  produced 


276  HISTORY    OF    THE 

The  influx  of  Spanish  refugees  into  England  ceased 
with  the  sixteenth  century,  though  a  sohtary  indivi- 
dual, who  had  found  the  means  of  illumination  in  his 
native  country,  flying  from  the  awakened  suspicions 
of  the  inquisitors,  occasionally  reached  its  hospitable 
shore  after  that  period* 


CHAPTER  IX. 

EFFECTS    WHICH    THE    SUPPRESSION    OF    THE    REFORMATION    PRODUCED     ON 

SPAIN. 

Tyranny,  while  it  subjects  those  against  whom  it  is 
immediately  directed  to  great  suff'erings,  entails  still 
greater  misery  on  the  willing  instruments  of  its  ven- 
geance. Spain  boasts  of  having  extirpated  the  re- 
formed opinions  from  her  territory ;  but  she  has  little 
reason  to  congratulate  lierself  on  the  consequences  of 
her  blind  and  infatuated  policy.  She  has  paid,  and  is 
still  paying,  the  forfeit  of  her  folly  and  crimes,  by  the 
loss  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  and  by  the  degrada- 
tion into  which  she  has  sunk  among  the  nations. 

Other  causes,  no  doubt,  contributed  to  produce  this 
melancholy  issue ;  but  that  it  is  to  be  traced  chiefly  to 
a  corrupt  religion,  will  appear  from  a  general  compari- 
son of  the  condition  of  Spain  with  other  European 
nations,  and  from  an  examination  of  her  internal 
state. 

It  is  a  fact  now  admitted  on  all  hands,  that  the  Re- 
formation has  ameliorated  the  state  of  government 
and  society  in  all  the  countries  into  which  it  was 
received.  By  exciting  inquiry  and  difl'using  know- 
ledge, it  led  to  the  discovery  and  correction  of  abuses; 
imposed  a  check,  by  public  opinion,  if  not  by  statute, 

incredible  effects  in  Spain;  no  less  than  three  thousand  copies  having 
penetrated,  by  secret  ways  and  conveyances,  into  tlie  very  bowels  of 
that  kinjjdoni.  Let  others  publish  the  fruit  of  my  Italian  version, 
both  in  Italy  and  elsewhere."     (Quick's  Synodicon,  vol.  ii.  p.  418.) 

*  Ferdinando  Tcxeda,  B.  D.  of  the  uriivcrsity  of  Salamanca,  having 
embraced  the  Protestant  religion,  came  to  England  about  tlie  year 
1623.  (Wood's  Fasti,  p.  413.) 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  277 

on  the  arbitrary  will  of  princes;  generated  a  spirit  of 
liberty  among   the  people;    gave   a   higher   tone  to 
morals ;  and  imparted  a  strong  impulse  to  the  human 
mind  in  the  career  of  invention  and   improvement. 
These  benefits  have  been  felt  to  a  certain  degree  in 
countries  into  which  the  reformed  religion  was  only 
partially  introduced,  or  whose  inhabitants,  from  local 
situation  and  other  causes,  were  brought  into  close 
contact  with  Protestants.     But  while  these   nations 
were  advancing  with  different  degrees  of  rapidity  in 
improvement — acquiring  free  governments,  cultiva- 
ting literature  and  science,  or  extending  their  com- 
merce and  increasing  their  resources — Spain,  though 
possessed  of  equal  or  greater  advantages,  became  sta- 
tionary, and  soon  began  to  retrograde.     It  is  impossi- 
ble to  account  for  this  phenomenon  from  any  pecu- 
liarity in  her  political  condition  at  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century.     Italy  was  in  very  different  circum- 
stances in  this  respect,  and  yet  we  find  the  two  coun- 
tries nearly  in  the  same  condition,  owing  to  their 
having  pursued  the  same  measures  in  regard  to  reli- 
gion.   On  the  other  hand,  the  political  state  of  France, 
at  the  era  referred  to,  was  very  similar  to  that  of 
Spain.     The  nobles  had  been  stripped  of  their  feudal 
power  in  both  countries ;  the  French  parliaments  had 
become  as  passive  instruments  in  the  hands  of  the 
sovereign  as  the  Spanish  cortes ;  and  both  kingdoms 
Avere  equally  exhausted  by  the  wars  which  for  more 
than   half  a  century  they  had   waged   against  one 
another.     But  the  bulls  of  the  Vatican  had  not  the 
same  free  course  in  France  as  in  the  Peninsula.    The 
Reformation  deposited  a  seed  in  that  country  which 
all  the  violence  and  craft  of  Louis  XIV.,  a  despot  as 
powerful  as  Philip  II.,  could  not  eradicate;  and  though 
persecution  drove  from  its  soil  thousands  of  its  most 
industrious  citizens,  yet  as  there  was  no  Inquisition 
there,  literature  and  the  arts  survived  the  shock.    The 
consequence  has  been,  that,  after  coming  out  of  the 
storms  of  a  revolution  which  long  raged  with  most 
destructive  fury,  and  being  subjected  to  a  military 
government  of  unparalled  strength,  France  still  hold^ 


278  HISTORY    OP    THE 

a  place  among  the  great  powers  of  Europe,  nor  has 
,  she  been  entirely  stripped  of  her  liberties,  though  she 
has  received  back  that  family  which  formerly  reigned, 
over  her  with  unlimited  authority ;  while  Spain,  after 
being  long  subject  to  a  branch  of  the  same  family,  and 
participating  of  all  the  effects  of  the  revolutionary 
period,  is  now  lying  prostrate  and  in  chains  at  the  feet 
of  a  despot  and  his  ghostly  ministers. 

But  the  evils  which  Spain  has  brought  upon  her- 
self, by  her  bigoted  and  intolerant  zeal  for  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion,  will  appear  in  a  more  striking  light 
from  an  examination  of  her  internal  state. 

The  unsuccessful  attempt  to  reform  religion  in  Spain 
led  to  the  perpetuation  of  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisi- 
tion, not  only  by  affording  a  pretext  for  arming  it 
with  new  powers,  but  by  increasing  the  influence 
which  it  already  exerted  over  the  public  mind.  It 
became  the  boast  of  that  tribunal  that  it  had  extir- 
pated the  northern  heresy,  and  henceforth  all  true 
Spaniards  were  taught  to  regard  it  as  the  palladium  of 
their  religion.  This,  if  it  did  not  entail  the  miseries 
of  tyranny  and  ignorance  in  Spain,  at  least  sealed  the 
entail.  To  the  superficial  and  egotistical  philosophy, 
which  is  too  often  to  be  met  with  in  the  present  day, 
we  owe  the  discovery,  that  the  Inquisition  was  no 
cause  of  the  decline  of  the  Spanish  nation,  inasmuch 
as  it  was  merely  the  organ  of  the  government.  That 
the  Spanish  monarchs  employed  it  as  an  engine  of 
state,  we  have  seen,  and  that  it  could  not  liave  tor- 
tured the  bodies,  or  invaded  the  property  of  the  sub- 
jects, without  power  conveyed  to  it  by  the  state,  is 
self-evident;  but  it  is  equally  true  that  it  was  in  itself 
a  moral  power,  and  exerted  its  authority  over  the 
minds  of  both  princes  and  subjects.  When  JNIacanaz 
persuaded  Philip  V.  to  lay  restraints  on  the  transmis- 
sion of  money  to  Rome,  his  Holiness,  by  means  of 
the  Inquisition,  not  only  drove  the  minister  into  exile, 
but  forced  his  master  to  retract  the  law  which  he  had 
passed,  and,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  council  of  the 
Supreme,  to  confess,  that,  led  astray  by  evil  counsel, 
he  had  rashly  put  his  hand  into  the  sanctuary.     And 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  279 

to  complete  its  triumph,  the  enhghtened  Macanaz, 
while  in  France,  was  induced  to  write  a  defence  of 
the  Holy  Office,  which  is  appealed  to  by  its  apologists 
in  Spain  to  this  day.*  When  at  a  recent  period  the 
Cortes  wished  to  abolish  that  tribunal,  they  were  made 
to  feel  that  it  had  an  existence  independently  of  their 
authority,  and  a  foundation  deeper  than  that  which 
mere  laws  had  given  it. 

But  civil  and  religious  despotism  are  natural  allies. 
Though  the  Inquisition  exalted  the  power  of  the  pope 
above  that  of  the  king,  and  its  advocates  have  some- 
times had  recourse  to  the  principles  of  civil  liberty  to 
vindicate  the  restraint  and  dethronement  of  princes 
who  proved  refractory  to  the  church,t  yet  it  all  along 
yielded  the  most  effective  support  to  the  arbitrary 
measures  of  the  government,  and  exerted  its  influence 
in  crushing  every  proposal  to  correct  abuses  in  the 
state,  and  stifling  the  voice  of  complaint.  Under  other 
forms  of  despotism,  actions,  or  the  external  manifes- 
tation of  liberal  opinions,  have  been  visited  with  pun- 
ishment; but  in  Spain  every  reflection  on  politics  was 
denounced  by  the  monks  as  damnable  heresy,  and 
proscribed  in  the  sanctuary  of  coriscience. 

Ever  since  the  suppression  of  the  Reformation,  it 
has  been  the  great  object  of  the  inquisitors  and  ruling 
clergy  to  arrest  the  progress  of  knowledge.  With 
this  view  they  have  exercised  the  most  rigid  and  vigi- 
lant inspection  of  the  press  and  the  seminaries  of 
education.  Lists  of  prohibited  books  have  been  pub- 
lished from  time  to  time,  including  vernacular  trans- 

*  Puigblanch,  ii.  12-21. 

t  The  treatise  of  the  Jesuit  Mariana,  De  Rege,  et  Regis  InstitU' 
tione,  which  was  burnt  at  Paris  by  the  hands  of  the  common  hang- 
man, is  well  known  to  the  learned.  In  the  library  of  Lambeth  there 
is  a  copy  of  the  works  of  Charles  I.  with  the  corrections  made  on  it 
by  order  of  the  Inquisition  of  Lisbon.  Furious  dashes  of  the  pen  ap- 
pear across  those  passages  in  the  prayers  which  refer  to  the  Protes- 
tant religion.  Describing  a  "  right  monarchy,"  the  British  monarch 
had  said,  "  where  counsel  may  be  in  many,  as  the  senses,  but  the  su- 
preme power  can  be  but  in  one,  as  the  head."  The  inquisitors  have 
allowed  this  passage  to  stand;  but  over  against  it  on  the  margin,  they 
have  written,  "If  king,  false;  if  pope,  true."  (Catal.  of  Archiepis- 
copal  Library  at  Lambeth,  No.  cccxxii.) 


280  HISTORY    OF    THE 

lalions  of  the  Bible,*  and  the  writings  not  only  of 
the  reformers,  bnt  also  of  Roman  Catholics,  who  dis- 
covered the  slightest  degree  of  liberality  in  their  sen- 
timents, or  who  treated  their  subjects  in  such  a  way 
as  to  encourage  a  spirit  of  inquny.  A  commentary 
on  the  Pentateuch  by  Oleaster,  a  member  of  tlie  coun- 
cil of  Trent,  and  a  Portuguese  inquisitor,  which  had 
been  several  years  in  circulation,  was  ordered  to  be 
called  in  and  corrected,  because  the  author  had  ven- 
tured to  depart  from  the  Vulgate  and  the  interpreta- 
tions of  the  fathers.!  The  commentaries  of  Jean 
Ferus,  a  French  monk,  who  had  availed  himself  of 
the  learning  of  the  Protestants,  were  censured  as  con- 
taining "the  heretical  sentiments  of  Luther;"  and  for 
reprinting  them  in  Spain,  Michael  de  Medina,  guar- 
dian of  the  Franciscans  at  Toledo,  was  thrown  into 
the  secret  prisons  of  the  Inquisition,  and  was  saved 
from  the  disgrace  of  making  a  public  recantation, 
only  by  a  premature  death.J  Arias  Montanus  was 
under  the  necessity  of  defending  himself  against  the 
charges  which  the  inquisitorial  censors  brought  against 
his  Polyglot  Bible,  published  under  the  patronage  of 
Philip  il.§  Luis  de  Leon,  professor  of  divinity  at 
Salamanca,  having  written  a  translation  of  the  Song 
of  Solomon  in  Spanish,  to  which  he  added  short  ex- 
planatory notes,  was  confined  for  five  years  in  the 
dungeons  of  the  Inquisition;  and  his  poetical  para- 
phrases of  the  book  of  Job  and  other  parts  of  Scrip- 
ture, distinguished  for  their  elegance  and  purity,  were 
long  suppressed.  II 

*  The  prohibition  of  Bibles  in  the  Spanish  language  was  erased 
from  the  index  by  an  edict  dated  20  Dec.  1782  ;  and  yet  the  Inqui- 
sition of  Seville,  by  a  general  edict  promulgated  1  Feb.  1790,  com- 
manded all  such  Bibles  to  be  denounced.  This  might  be  an  over- 
sight; but  it  is  certain  that  the  index  still  contains  a  prohibition  of 
two  books,  u[)on  this  ground,  that  they  i)oint  out  the  advantages  of 
reading  the  Scriptures.  Nor  was  it  the  intention  of  the  Inquisition 
to  give  the  F.ibic  to  the  common  people;  and  accordnigly  it  is  printed 
in  such  a  form  as  to  confine  it  to  the  wealthy. 

t  Simon,  Lettrcs  C'hoisies,  tom.  i.  p.  193-197. 

X  Simon,  ut  supra,  p.  148-152.     Llorente,  iii.  86-88. 

§  Rodriguez  de  Castro,  Bibhotcca  Espanola,  tom.  i.  p.  649-6G6. 

II  Antonii  Bibl.   Hisp.   Nov.  tom.  ii.  p.  45-47.     Geddes's  Frospec- 
tus,  p.  87. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  281 

The  taste  for  theological  studies,  which  had  been 
produced  by  the  revival  of  letters  in  Spain,  survived 
for  some  time  the  suppression  of  the  Reformation.  It 
was  cherished  in  secret  by  individuals,  who,  convinced 
that  the  Protestants  excelled  in  the  interpretation  of 
Scripture,  appropriated  their  writings  in  whole  or  in 
part,  and  published  them  as  their  own.  The  Latin 
Bible,  with  notes,  by  Leo  Juda,  and  other  Swiss  di- 
vines, after  undergoing  certain  corrections,  was  print- 
ed at  Salamanca  with  the  approbation  of  the  censors 
of  the  press;  but  the  real  authors  being  discovered,  it 
was  subsequently  put  into  the  index  of  prohibited 
books.*  Hyperius,  a  reformed  divine,  was  the  author 
of  an  excellent  book  on  the  method  of  interpreting 
the  Scriptures.  Having  removed  from  it  every  thing 
which  appeared  to  contradict  the  tenets  of  the  church 
of  Rome,  Lorenzo  de  Villavicencio,  an  Augustinian 
monk  of  Xeres  in  Andalusia,  published  that  work  as 
his  own,  not  even  excepting  the  preface ;  and  in  con- 
sequence of  the  little  intercourse  which  subsisted  be- 
tween Spain  and  the  north  of  Europe,  nearly  half  a 
century  elapsed  before  the  plagiarism  was  detected.! 
Martinez  was  less  fortunate;  for  publishing  a  similar 
work,  in  which  he  exalted  the  originals  above  the 
Vulgate,  he  was  subjected  to  penance,  and  prohibited 
from  writing  for  the  future.  J  Precluded  from  every 
field  of  inquiry  or  discussion,  the  divines  of  Spain 
addicted  themselves  exclusively  to  the  study  of  scho- 
lastic and  casuistic  theology. 

The  same  tyranny  was  extended  to  other  branches 
of  science,  even  those  which  are  most  remotely  con- 
nected with  religion.  All  books  on  general  subJ3cts 
composed  by  Protestants,  or  translated  by  them,  or 
containing  notes  written  by  them,  were  strictly  inter- 
dicted. A  papal  bull,  dated  17  August  1627,  took 
from  metropolitans,  patriarchs,  and  all  but  the  inquisi- 

*  Le  Long,  Bibl.  Sacra,  torn.  iii.  p.  439-448.  edit.  Mascli.  Carpzovii 
Critica  Sacra,  p.  739. 

tCarl.  Friedric  Staudlin,  Geschichte  der  Theologischcn  Wissen- 
schaften,  torn.  i.  p  145.     Riveti  Opera,  torn.  ii.  p.  948. 

I  Antonii  Bibl.  Hisp.  Nov.  torn.  ii.  p.  105. 

19 


282  HISTORY    OF    THE 

tor  general,  the  privilege  of  reading  prohibited  books. 
Nicolas  Antonio,  the  Uterary  historian  of  Spain,  was 
obUged  to  remain  five  years  in  Rome  before  he  ob- 
tained this  privilege,  with  the  view  of  finding  mate- 
rials for  his  national  work.*  The  Pontifical  Histoiy  of 
Illescas  was  repeatedly  suppressed,  and  the  author 
constrained  at  last  to  put  his  name  to  a  work  contain- 
ing statements  and  opinions  dictated  to  him  by  others, 
and  diametrically  opposite  to  those  which  he  had  for- 
merly given  to  the  world.t  While  the  native  histo- 
rians of  Spain  were  prevented  from  speaking  the 
truth,  histories  written  by  foreigners  were  forbidden 
under  the  severest  pains,  as  satires  on  the  policy  and 
religion  of  the  Peninsula.  The  consequence  has  been, 
that  the  Spaniards  entertain  the  most  erroneous  con- 
ceptions of  their  own  history,  and  are  profoundly  igno- 
rant of  the  affairs  of  other  countries.:!: 

Not  satisfied  with  exerting  a  rigid  censorship  over 
the  press,  the  inquisitors  intruded  into  private  houses, 
ransacked  the  libraries  of  the  learned  and  curious,  and 
carried  off  and  retained  at  their  pleasure  such  books 
as  they,  in  their  ignorance,  suspected  to  be  of  a  dan- 
gerous character.  So  late  as  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  we  find  Manuel  Martini,  dean  of 
Alicant,  and  one  of  the  most  enlightened  of  his  coun- 
trymen in  that  age,  complaining  bitterly,  in  his  con- 
fidential correspondence,  of  what  he  suffered  from 
such  proceedings.  § 

Universities  and  other  seminaries  of  education  were 
watched  with  the  most  scrupulous  jealousy.  The 
professors  in  the  university  of  Salamanca,  who  appear 
to  have  shown  a  stronger  predilection  for  liberal 
science  than  their  brethren,  were  forbidden  to  deliver 
lectures  to  their  students;  and  similar  orders  were 
issued  by  Philip  II.  to  those  of  the  Escurial,  who  were 
instructed  to  confine  themselves  to  reading  from  a 

*  Puigblanch,  ii.  366,  434. 
t  Llorentc,  i.  475,  476. 

tSismondi,  Hist,  of  the  Literature  of  the  South,  vol.  iv.  p.  124. 
I  Martini  Epist.  p.  32,  36 :  Schelhorn,  Ergotzlichkeiten,  torn.  i.  p. 
685-690. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  283 

printed  book.*  Moral  philosophy  is  too  intimately 
allied  both  to  religion  and  politics  not  to  have  excited 
the  dread  of  the  defenders  of  superstition  and  despot- 
ism; and,  in  fact  the  feeble  attempts  made  in  Spain 
to  throw  off  the  degrading  yoke  have  chiefly  pro- 
ceeded from  the  teachers  of  that  science.  This  accor- 
dingly gave  occasion  to  repeated  interdicts,  besides 
processes  carried  on  against  individuals.  During  the 
reign  of  Don  Carlos  IV.,  the  prime  minister,  Caballero, 
sent  a  circular  to  all  the  universities,  forbidding  the 
study  of  moral  philosophy,  "  because  what  his  ma- 
jesty wanted  was,  not  philosophers,  but  loyal  sub- 
jects.'^! Even  natural  philosophy,  in  its  various 
branches,  was  placed  under  the  same  trammels,  and 
the  Copernican  system  is  still  taught  in  that  country 
as  an  hypothesis.  Medical  science  is  neglected;  and 
surgeons,  before  entering  on  practice  are  obliged  to 
swear,  not  that  they  will  exercise  the  healing  art  with 
fidelity,  but  that  they  will  defend  the  immaculate  con- 
ception of  the  blessed  Virgin.  J 

The  great  events  which  distinguished  the  reign  of 
the  emperor  Charles  V.,  by  awakening  the  enthusiasm, 
contributed  to  develope  the  genius  of  the  Spanish 
nation ;  and  the  impulse  thus  given  to  intellect  con- 
tinued to  operate  long  after  the  cause  which  had  pro- 
duced it  was  removed.  But  the  character  of  the  de- 
generate age  in  which  they  lived  was  impressed  even 
on  the  towering  talents  of  Cervantes,  Lope  de  Vega, 
and  Calderon,  and  can  be  easily  traced  in  the  false 
ideas,  childish  prejudices,  and  gross  ignorance  of  facts 
which  disfigure  their  writings.  With  these  master 
spirits  of  literature  the  genius  of  Spain  sunk;  and 
when  it  began  to  recover  from  the  lethargy  by  which 
it  was  long  oppressed,  it  assumed  the  most  unnatural 
form.  Imagination  being  the  only  field  left  open  to 
them,  Spanish  writers,  as  if  they  wished  to  compen- 
sate for  the  restraints  under  which  they  were  laid,  set 
aside  the  rules  of  good  taste,  and  abandoned  them- 

*  Simon,  Lettres  Choisies,  torn.  i.  p.  365. 
+  Doblado's  Letters,  p.  115,  358. 
t  Townsend's  Travels,  ii.  283. 


284  HISTORY    OF    THE 

selves  to  all  the  extravagancies  of  fancy,  which  they 
embodied  in  the  most  inflated  and  pedantic  language. 
Although  the  natural  talents  of  the  inhabitants  are 
excellent,  there  is  at  present  no  taste  for  literature  in 
Spain.  The  lectures  on  experimental  philosophy 
which  Solano  began  to  deliver  gratis  in  the  capital 
towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  though  distin- 
guished by  their  simplicity  and  elegance,  were  discon- 
tinued for  want  of  an  audience.  Reading  is  unknown 
except  among  a  very  limited  class.  Every  attempt  to 
establish  a  literary  magazine  has  failed,  through  the 
listlessness  of  the  public  mind  and  the  control  of  the 
censoi'ship.*  And  the  spies  of  the  police  and  the 
Inquisition  have  long  ago  banished  every  thing  like 
rational  conversation  from  those  places  in  which  the 
people  assemble  to  spend  their  leisure  hours.t 

In  Italy  the  same  causes  produced  the  same  effects. 
Genius,  taste,  and  learning  were  crushed  under  the 
iron  hand  of  inquisitorial  despotism.  The  imprison- 
ment of  Galileo  in  the  seventeenth,  and  the  burning 
of  the  works  of  Giannone  in  the  eighteenth  century,  j 
are  sufficient  indications  of  the  deplorable  state  of  the 
Italians,  during  a  period  in  which  knowledge  was 
advancing  with  such  rapidity  in  countries  long  regard- 
ed by  them  as  barbarous.  When  their  intellectual 
energies  began  to  recover,  they  were  directed  to  a 
species  of  composition  in  which  sentiment  and  poetry 
are  mere  accessories  to  sensual  harmony,  and  the  na- 
tional love  of  pleasure  could  be  gratified  without 
endangering  the  authority  of  the  rulers.  To  ennoble 
pleasure  and  render  it  in  some  degree  sacred ;  to  screen 
the  prince  from  the  shame  of  his  own  indolence  and 
effeminacy;  to  blind  the  people  to  every  consideration 
but  that  of  the  passing  moment;  and  to  give  the  au- 

*  It  has  been  wittily  said,  that  in  Madrid,  provided  you  avoid  saying 
any  tliinjr  concerning-  govcrniucnt,  or  rcHgion,  or  pohtics,  or  morals, 
or  statesmen,  or  bodies  of  reputation,  or  the  opera,  or  any  other  pub- 
lic amusement,  or  any  one  who  is  engaged  in  any  business,  you  may 
print  what  you  plca.sc,  under  the  correction  of  two  or  three  censors. 

t  Townsend's  Travels,  ii.  154,  275.  Doblado's  Letters,  p.  377,  380. 

t  Anecdotes  Ecclesiastiques  de  THistoirc  do  Koyaumc  dc  Naples 
brulec  a  Rome  en  1726,  prof.  p.  viii.     Amst.  1738. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  285 

thor  an  opportunity  to  exert  his  talents  without  incur- 
ring the  vengeance  of  the  Inquisition — is  the  scope 
and  spirit  of  the  Itahan  opera. "^  Later  writers  in  Italy, 
whose  productions  breathe  a  fiery  spirit  of  liberty, 
were  of  the  French,  or  rather  revolutionary  school, 
and  afford  no  criterion  for  judging  of  the  national 
feelings  and  taste. 

In  Spain  the  increase  of  superstition,  and  of  the 
numbers  and  opulence  of  the  clergy,  has  kept  pace 
with  the  growth  of  ignorance.     The  country  is  over- 
run with  clergy,  secular  and  regular.     Towards  the 
close  of  last  century  it  contained  nearly  nine  thou- 
sand convents ;  and  the  number  of  persons  who  had 
taken  the  vow  of  celibacy  approached  to  two  hun- 
dred thousand.-N  The  wealth  of  the  church  was  equally 
disproportionate  to  that  of  the  nation,  as  the  numbers 
of  the  clergy  were  to  its  population.  The  cathedral  of 
Toledo,  for  example,  besides  other  valuable  ornaments, 
contained  four  large  silver  images,  standing  on  globes 
of  the  same  metal;  a  grand  massive  throne  of  silver, 
on  which  was  placed  an  image  of  the  Virgin,  wear- 
ing a  crown  valued  at  upwards  of  a  thousand  pounds; 
and  a  statue  of  the  infant  Jesus,  adorned  with  eighteen 
hundred  precious  stones.     Six  hundred  priests,  richly 
endowed,  were  attached  to  it ;  and  the  revenues  of 
the  archbishop  were  estimated  at  nearly  a  hundred 
thousand  pounds.  :j:    The  sums  which  are  extorted  by 
the  mendicant  friars,  and  which  are  paid  for  masses 
and  indulgences,  cannot  be  calculated;  but  the  bulls 
of  crusade  alone  yield  a  neat  yearly  income  of  two 
hundred  thousand  pounds  to  his  Catholic  Majesty, 
who  purchases  them  from  the  pope,  and  retails  them 

*  Sismondi,  History  of  the  Literature  of  the  South,  vol.  ii.  p.  290. 

t  Townsend's  Travels,  vol.  ii.  p.  233.  The  city  of  Toledo,  which 
contains  twenty. five  thousand  souls,  has  twenty-six  parish  churches, 
thirty-eight  convents,  seventeen  hospitals,  four  colleges,  twelve  cha- 
pels, and  nineteen  hermitages.  Medina  del  Campo  consists  of  one 
thousand  houses,  and  has  nine  parish  churches,  seventy  priests,  seven- 
teen  convents,  and  two  hospitals.  Salamanca  contains  three  thousand 
houses,  and  lias  twenty-seven  parish  churches,  fifteen  chapels,  five 
hundred  and  eighty  priests,  and  fifteen  hundred  and  nine  persons 
under  vows.     (Ibid   vol.  i.  309-362;  ii.  84.) 

t  Townsend,  i.  309-311.  Conf.  Scaligcrana  Sccunda,  voc.  Espag- 
nols. 


286  HISTORY    OF    THE 

to  his  loving  subjects.*  Equally  great  are  the  encroach- 
ments which  superstition  has  made  on  the  time  of  the 
inhabitants.  Benedict  XIV.  reduced  the  number  of 
holydays  in  the  states  of  the  church,  and  recommend- 
ed a  similar  reduction  in  other  kingdoms.  But  in 
Spain  there  are  still  ninety-three  general  festivals, 
besides  those  of  particular  provinces,  parishes,  and 
convents ;  to  which  we  must  add  the  bull-feasts,t  and 
the  Mondays  claimed  by  apprentices  and  journey- 
men. J 

Commerce  and  all  the  sources  of  national  wealth 
are  obstructed  by  persecution  and  intolerance.  But 
the  evil  is  unspeakably  aggravated,  when  the  greater 
part  of  the  property  of  a  nation  is  locked  up,  and  a 
large  proportion  of  its  inhabitants,  and  of  their  time, 
is  withdrawn  from  useful  labour.  Holland,  with  no 
soil  but  what  she  recovered  from  the  ocean,  waxed 
rich  and  independent,  while  Spain,  with  a  third  part 
of  the  world  in  her  possession,  has  become  poor.  The 
city  of  Toledo  is  reduced  to  an  eighth  part  of  its  former 
population;  the  monks  remain,  but  the  citizens  have 
fled.  Every  street  in  Salamanca  swarms  with  sturdy 
beggars  and  vagabonds  able  to  work;  and  this  is  the 
case  wherever  the  clergy,  convents,  and  hospicios  are 
numerous.  With  a  soil  which,  by  its  extent  and  fer- 
tility, is  capable  of  supporting  an  equal  number  of 
inhabitants,  the  population  of  Spain  is  not  half  that  of 
France. 

The  effects  produced  on  the  national  character  and 
morals  are  still  more  deplorable.    Possessing  naturally 

*  For  this  bull  the  nobles  pay  about  six  shillings  and  four  pence, 
the  common  people  about  two  shillings  and  four  pence,  in  Aragon. 
In  Castile  it  is  somewhat  cheaper.  No  confessor  will  grant  absolu- 
tion to  any  one  who  does  not  possess  it.  (Townsend,  ii.  171-2.  Dob- 
lado's  Letters,  p.  214.)  Dr.  Colbach  has  given  an  account  of  this 
traffic.  In  1709  a  privateer  belonging  to  Bristol  took  a  galleon,  in 
which  they  found  five  hundred  bales  of  these  precious  goods,  contain- 
ing each  sixteen  reams,  and  amounting  in  all  to  three  hundred  and 
eighty-four  thousand  bulls.  Captain  Dampiere  says  he  careened  his 
ship  with  them. 

t  These  disgraceful  spectacles  are  countenanced  by  the  clergy, 
and  a  priest  is  always  in  attendance  to  administer  the  sacrament  to 
the  matadors  who  may  be  mortally  wounded. 

t  Townsend,  i.  350;  ii.  233-235. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  287 

some  of  the  finest  qualities  by  which  a  people  can  be 
distinguished — generous,  feeUng,  devoted,  constant — 
the  Spaniards  became  cruel,  proud,  reserved  and  jeal- 
ous. The  revolting  spectacles  of  the  auto-de-fe,  con- 
tinued for  so  long  a  period,  could  not  fail  to  have  the 
most  hardening  influence  on  their  feelings.*  In  Spain, 
as  in  Italy,  religion  is  associated  with  crime,  and  pro- 
tected by  its  sanctions.  Thieves  and  prostitutes  have 
their  images  of  the  Virgin,  their  prayers,  their  holy 
water,  and  their  confessors.  Murderers  find  a  sanc- 
tuary in  the  churches  and  convents.  Crimes  of  the 
blackest  character  are  left  unpunished  in  consequence 
of  the  immunities  granted  to  the  clergy.t  Adultery 
is  common;  and  those  who  live  habitually  in  this  vice 
find  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  absolution.  The  cor- 
tejos,  or  male  paramours,  like  the  cicisbei  in  Italy, 
appear  regularly  in  the  family  circle.  In  great  cities 
the  canons  of  cathedrals  act  in  this  character,  and  the 
monks  in  villages.  The  parish  priests  live  almost  uni- 
versally in  concubinage,  and  all  that  the  more  correct 
bishops  require  of  them  is,  that  they  do  not  keep  their 
children  in  their  own  houses.  Until  they  begin  to 
look  towards  a  mitre,  few  of  the  clergy  think  of  pre- 
serving decorum  in  this  matter.:}: 

The  dramatical  pieces  composed  by  their  most  cele- 
brated writers,  and  acted  on  the  stage  with  the  great- 
est applause,  demonstrate  the  extent  to  which  the 
principles  of  morality  have  been  injured  by  fanaticism 
and  bigotry.  In  one  of  them,§  after  the  hero  has 
plotted  the  death  of  his  wife,  and  accomplished  that 
of  his  parents,  Jesus  Christ  is  represented  as  descend- 
ing from  from  heaven  to  effect  his  salvation  by  means 

*  Cogan  mentions  that  he  was  one  day  walking  in  the  streets  of 
London  with  a  young  lady  from  Portugal,  about  nine  years  of  age,  a 
Protestant,  and  of  a  mild,  compassionate  disposition.  Seeing  a  crowd 
collected  round  a  pile  of  faggots  on  fire,  he  expressed  an  anxiety  to 
know  the  cause,  upon  which  the  young  lady  replied  without  any 
emotion,  "  It  is  only  some  people  going  to  burn  a  Jew."  (Philosophi- 
cal Treatise  on  the  Passions,  note  L.) 

+  Sismondi,  Hist-  of  the  Lit.  of  the  South,  vol.  iii.  404;  iv.  6,  7,  18. 
Townsend's  Travels,  i.  223,  398.     Doblado's  Lettres,  p.  222. 

X  Townsend's  Travels,  ii.  147-151.     Doblado's  Letters,  p.  220. 

§  The  Animal  prof  eta,  by  Lope  de  Voga. 


288  HISTORY    OF    THE 

of  a  miracle.     In  another,*  an  incestuous  brigand  and 
professed  assassin  preserves,  in  the  midst  of  his  crimes, 
his  devotion  for  the  cross,  at  the  foot  of  which  he  was 
born,  and  the  impress  of  which  he  bears  on  his  breast. 
He  erects  a  cross  over  each  of  his  victims;  and  being 
at  last  slain,  God  restores  him  to  life  in  order  that  a 
;§aint  might  receive  his  confession,  and  thus  secure  his 
admission  into  heaven.      In  another  piece,t  Alfonso 
VI.  receives  the  capitulation  of  the  Moors  of  Toledo, 
and,  in  the  midst  of  his  court  and  knights,  swears  to 
maintain  their  religious  liberties,  and  to  leave  for  their 
worship  the  largest  mosque  in  the  city.     During  his 
absence,  Constance  his  queen  violates  the  treaty,  and 
places  the  miraculous  image   of  the  Virgin  in  the 
mosque.     Alfonso  is  highly  indignant  at  this  breach 
of  faith,  but  the  Virgin  surrounds  Constance  with  a 
crown  of  glory,  and  convinces  the  king,  to  the  great 
delight  of  the  spectators,  that  it  is  an  unpardonable 
sin  to  keep  faith  with  heretics.     To  give  one  instance 
more;  in  another  piece,|  the  hero,  while  leading  the 
most  abandoned  life,  is  represented  as  adhering  to  the 
true  faith,  and  thus  meriting  the  protection  of  St.  Pat- 
rick, who  follows  him  as  his  good  genius  to  inspire 
him  with  repentance.    When  about  to  commit  a  mur- 
der, in  addition  to  numbers  which  he  had  already  per- 
petrated, he  is  converted  by  an  apparition  of  himself, 
and  exclaims,  "  What  atonement  can  be  made  for  a 
life  spent  in  crime?''  to  which  a  voice  of  celestial 
music  replies,  "  Purgatory."    He  is  then  directed  into 
St.  Patrick's  Purgatory,  and  at  the  end  of  a  few  days 
comes  out  pardoned  and  purified.    Still  more  precious 
specimens  of  religious  absurdity  and  fanaticism  might 
have  been  given  from  the  aulos  sacramentales,  a 
species  of  composition  which  continued  to  be  popular 
till  a  late  period,  and  has  employed  the  pens  of  the 
most  celebrated  writers  in  Spain. 

The  Italians  are  bound  to  religion  chiefly  by  the 
ties  of  interest  and  pleasure.     The  Spaniards  are  na- 

*  The  Devocion  de  la  Cruz,  by  Calderon. 

+  The  Virgen  del  Sagraiio,  by  the  same  author. 

t  The  Furgatorio  de  San  Patricio^  by  the  sainc  author. 


REFORMATION   IN   SPAIN.  289 

turally  a  grave  people;  their  devotional  feelings  are 
strong;  and  had  they  lived  under  a  free  government, 
they  would  have  welcomed  a  purer  worship,  when, 
after  a  long  period  of  ignorance,  it  was  unveiled  to 
their  eyes,  and  might  have  proved  its  most  enthusias- 
tic and  constant  admirers.*  But  their  minds  have 
been  subjugated  and  their  feelings  perverted  by  a  long 
course  of  debasing  slavery.  As  to  religion,  the  in- 
habitants of  Spain  are  now  divided  into  two  classes, 
bigots  and  dissemblers.  There  is  no  intermediate 
class.  Under  such  an  encroaching  system  of  faith  as 
that  of  the  church  of  Rome,  which  claims  a  right  of 
interference  with  almost  every  operation  of  the  human 
mind,  the  prohibition  of  all  dissent  from  the  estab- 
lished religion  is  a  restraint  sufficiently  painful.  But 
this  is  the  least  evil.  Every  Spaniard  who  disbelieves 
the  public  creed  is  constrained  to  profess  himself  to  be 
what  he  is  not,  under  the  pain  of  losing  all  that  he 
holds  dear  on  earth.  What  with  masses,  and  confes- 
sions, and  festivals,  and  processions,  and  bowing  to 
crosses  and  images,  and  purchasing  pardons,  and  con- 
tributing to  deliver  souls  from  purgatory,  he  is  every 
day,  and  every  hour  of  the  day,  under  the  necessity 
of  giving  his  countenance  to  what  he  detests  as  a 
Christian,  or  loathes  as  the  cause  of  his  country's  de- 
gradation. It  is  not  enough  that  he  contrives  to  avoid 
going  to  church  or  chapel:  the  idol  presents  itself  to 
him  abroad  and  at  home,  in  the  tavern  and  in  the 
theatre.  He  cannot  turn  a  corner  without  being  in 
danger  of  hearing  the  sound  of  the  hand-bell  which 
summons  him  to  kneel  in  the  mud,  till  a  priest,  who 
is  carrying  the  consecrated  host  to  some  dying  person, 
has  moved  slowly  in  his  sedan  chair  from  one  end  of 
the  street  to  the  other.  If  he  dine  with  a  friend,  the 
passing  bell  is  no  sooner  heard  than  the  whole  party 
rise  from  table  and  worship.  If  he  go  to  the  theatre, 
the  military  guard  at  the  door,  by  a  well-known  sound 
of  his  drum,  announces  the  approach  of  a  procession, 
upon  which  *' Su  Magestad !  Dios,  Dios!"  resounds 

*  "  Si  I'Espagnol   estoit  libre,  il  embrasseroit  fort  la  Religion,  au 
prix  de  I'ltalien."     (Scaligerana  Secunda,  voc.  Ilaliens.) 


290  HISTORY    OF    THE 

through  the  house ;  the  play  is  instantly  suspended, 
and  the  whole  assembly,  actors  and  spectators,  fall 
on  their  knees,  in  which  attitude  they  remain  until  the 
sound  of  the  bell  has  died  away,  when  the  amuse- 
ment is  resumed  with  fresh  spirit.  He  has  scarcely 
returned  to  his  inn,  when  a  friar  enters,  bearing  a 
large  lanthorn  with  painted  glass,  representing  two 
persons  enveloped  with  flames,  and  addresses  him, 
"  The  holy  souls,  brother !  Remember  the  holy 
souls."* 

Religion  in  its  purity  is  calculated  to  soothe  and 
support  the  mind  under  the  unavoidable  calamities  of 
life  ;  but  when  perverted  by  superstition,  it  aggravates 
every  evil  to  which  men  are  exposed,  by  fostering 
delusive  confidence,  and  leading  to  the  neglect  of 
those  natural  means  which  tend  to  avert  danger,  or 
alleviate  distress.  In  Spain,  every  city,  every  profes- 
sion, and  every  company  of  artisans,  has  its  tutelaiy 
saint,  on  whose  miraculous  interposition  the  utmost 
reliance  is  placed.  The  merchant,  when  he  embarks 
his  goods  for  a  foreign  country,  instead  of  insuring 
them  against  the  dangers  of  the  sea  in  the  ordinary 
way,  seeks  for  security  by  paying  his  devotions  at  the 
shrine  of  the  saint  under  whose  protection  the  vessel 
sails.  There  is  scarcely  a  disease  aflecthig  the  human 
body  which  is  not  submitted  to  the  healing  power  of 
some  member  of  the  calendar.  So  late  as  1801,  when 
the  yellow  fever  prevailed  in  Seville,  the  civil  autho- 
rities, instead  of  adopting  precautionary  measures  for 
abating  the  violence  of  that  pestilential  malady,  ap- 
plied to  the  archbishop  for  the  solemn  prayers  called 
Bogativas ;  and  not  trusting  to  these,  they  resolved  to 
carry  in  procession  a  fragment  of  the  true  cross,  pre- 
served in  the  cathedral  of  Seville,  which  had  formerly 
chased  away  an  army  of  locusts,  together  with  a  large 
wooden  crucifix,  which,  in  1649,  had  arrested  the  pro- 
gress of  the  plague.  The  inhabitants  flocked  to  the 
church;  and  the  consequence  was,  that  the  heat,  fa- 
tigue, and  anxiety  of  a  whole  day  spent  in  this  ridi- 

*  Doblado's  Letters,  p.  8-14,  169.     Townsend's  Travels,  i.  336. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  291 

ciilous  ceremony,  increased  the  disease  in  a  tenfold 
proportion.* 

Popery,  by  the  false  light  and  repulsive  form  in 
which  it  represents  Christianity,  tends  naturally  to 
produce  deism  and  irreligion.  In  France,  where  a 
certain  degree  of  liberty  was  enjoyed,  it  led  at  first  to 
the  covert  dissemination,  and  afterwards  to  the  bold 
avowal  of  infidel  opinions,  by  those  who  had  the 
greatest  influence  over  the  public  mind.  In  countries 
where  a  rigid  system  of  police,  civil  and  ecclesiastical, 
has  been  kept  up,  its  operation  has  been  different,  but 
not  less  destructive  to  national  character  and  the  real 
interests  of  religion.  The  great  body  of  the  unbe- 
lievers, anxious  only  for  present  enjoyment,  and  re- 
garding religion  in  no  other  light  than  as  an  engine  of 
state,  have  made  no  scruple  of  fostering  the  popular 
credulity,  that  they  might  share  its  fruits ;  while  those 
of  more  generous  and  independent  spirit,  writhing 
under  the  degrading  yoke,  have  given  way  to  irritation 
of  feeling,  and,  confounding  Christianity  with  an  in- 
tolerant superstition,  cherish  the  desperate  hope  that 
religion,  in  all  its  forms,  will  one  day  be  swept  from 
the  earth,  as  the  support  of  tyranny  and  the  bane  of 
human  happiness.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Italian 
clergy  have  for  a  long  time  given  the  most  unequivo- 
cal proofs  that  they  disbelieve  those  doctrines,  and 
feel  indifferent  to  those  rites,  from  which  they  derive 
their  maintenance  and  wealth.t  We  were  formerly 
aware  that  the  principles  of  irreligion  were  widely 
diffiised  among  the  reading  classes  in  Spain;  but  more 
ample  information,  furnished  by  recent  events,  has 

*  Townsend,  i.  152-154,     Doblado,  p.  195-199,  316-318. 

t  An  English  gentleman  who  had  resided  long  in  Italy,  and  ob- 
tained lodgings  in  a  convent,  was  frequently  engaged  in  friendly  dis- 
cussions with  the  most  intelligent  individuals  of  the  house  on  the 
points  of  difference  between  the  churches  of  Rome  and  England.  On 
the  termination  of  one  of  these  disputes,  afler  the  greater  part  of  the 
company  had  retired,  a  young  monk,  who  had  supported  the  tenets 
of  his  church  with  great  ability,  turning  to  his  English  guest,  asked 
him  if  he  really  believed  what  he  had  been  defending.  On  his  an- 
swering seriously  in  the  affirmative,  the  monk  exclaimed,  Allor  lei 
crede  piu  che  tutto  il  convento.  Then,  Sir^  you  believe  more  than  all 
the  convent.     (Doblado's  Letters,  p.  476.) 


292  HISTORY    OF    THE 

disclosed  the  fact,  that  this  evil  is  not  confined  to  the 
laity,  and  that  infidelity  is  as  common  among  the 
educated  Spanish  clergy  as  vice  is  among  the  vulgar 
crowd  of  priests.  There  is  a  lightness  attached  to  the 
character  of  the  Italians,  which,  together  with  the 
recollection  that  they  have  been  the  chief  instruments 
of  enslaving  the  Christian  world,  disposes  us  to  turn 
away  from  the  manifestations  of  their  irreligion  with 
feelings  of  contempt.  But  such  is  the  native  dignity 
of  the  Spanish  character,  and  its  depth  of  feeling, 
that  we  dwell  with  a  mixed  emotion  of  pity  and  awe 
on  the  ravages  which  infidelity  is  making  on  so  noble 
a  structure.  Who  can  read  the  following  description 
by  a  Spaniard  without  the  strongest  sympathy  for 
such  of  his  countrymen  as  are  still  in  that  "  gall  of 
bitterness  and  bond  of  iniquity"  from  which  he  was 
so  happily  rescued !  "  Where  there  is  no  liberty,  there 
can  be  no  discrimination.  The  ravenous  appetite, 
raised  by  a  forced  abstinence,  makes  the  mind  gorge 
itself  with  all  sorts  of  food.  I  suspect  I  have  thus 
imbibed  some  false  and  many  crude  notions  from  my 
French  masters.  But  my  circumstances  preclude  the 
calm  and  dispassionate  examination  which  the  sub- 
ject deserves.  Exasperated  by  the  daily  necessity  of 
external  submission  to  doctrines  and  persons  I  de- 
test and  despise,  my  soul  overflows  with  bitterness. 
Though  I  acknowledge  the  advantages  of  moderation, 
none  being  used  towards  me,  I  practise  none,  and  in 
spite  of  my  better  judgment,  learn  to  be  a  fanatic  on 
my  own  side.  Pretending  studious  retirement,  I  have 
fitted  up  a  small  room  to  which  none  but  confidential 
friends  find  admission.  There  lie  my  prohibited  books 
in  perfect  concealment,  in  a  well-contrived  nook  under 
a  staircase.  Tlie  Breviary  alone,  in  its  black  binding, 
clasps,  and  gilt  leaves,  is  kept  upon  the  table,  to  check 
the  doubts  of  any  chance  intruder."*  The  same  per- 
son writes  at  a  subsequent  period :  "  The  confession  is 
painful  indeed,  yet  due  to  religion  itself — I  was  bor- 
dering on  atheism.  If  my  case  were  singular,  if  my 
knowledge  of  the  most  enlightened  classes  of  Spain 

*  Doblado's  Letters,  p.  134  ;  comp.  p.  112-113. 


REFORMATION    IN    SPAIN.  293 

did  not  furnish  me  with  a  midtitude  of  sadden  transi- 
tions from  sincere  faith  and  piety  to  the  most  outra- 
geous infidelity,  I  would  submit  to  the  humbling  con- 
viction that  either  weakness  of  judgment  or  fickleness 
of  character  had  been  the  only  source  of  my  errors. 
But  though  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  mention  individual 
cases,  I  do  attest,  from  the  most  certain  knowledge, 
that  the  history  of  my  own  mind  is,  with  little  varia- 
tion, that  of  a  great  portion  of  the  Spanish  clergy. 
The  fact  is  certain;  I  make  no  individual  charge; 
every  one  who  comes  within  the  description  may  still 
wear  the  mask,  which  no   Spaniard  can  throw  off 
without  bidding  an  eternal  farewell  to  his  country. ^'^ 
It  is  evident  from  this  slight  sketch  that  there  are 
many  and  powerful  obstacles  to  the  regeneration  of 
Spain.     Superstition  is  interwoven  with  her  national 
habits  and  feelings ;  and  civil  and  spiritual  despotism 
are  bound  together  by  an  indissoluble  league,  while 
they  find  a  powerful  auxiliary  in  the  depraved  morals 
of  the  people;  for  liberty  has  not  a  greater  enemy 
than  licentiousness,  and  an  immoral  people  can  nei- 
ther preserve  their  freedom  when  they  have  it,  nor 
regain  it  after  it  has  been  lost.     But  what  augurs 
worse  than  perhaps  any  thing  else  for  Spain  is,  that  it 
does  not  possess  a  class  of  persons  animated  by  the 
spirit  of  that  reformation  to  which  the  free  states  of 
Europe  chiefly  owe  their  political  privileges.    Infidel- 
ity and  scepticism,  besides  weakening  the  moral  ener- 
gies of  the  human  mind,  have  a  tendency  to  break  up 
the  natural  alliance  which  subsists  between  civil  and 
religious  liberty.     Those  who   are  inimical  or  indif- 
ferent to  religion  cannot  be  expected  to  prove  the  firm 
and   uncompromising  friends  of  that  liberty  which 
has  religion  for  its  object.     They  love  it  not  for  itself, 
and  cannot  be  prepared  to  make  all  sacrifices  for  its 
sake.     Thus,  when  tyranny  takes  the  field,  brandish- 
ing its  two  swords,  the  right  arm  of  liberty  is  found 
to  be  palsied.     The  irreligious  or  sceptical  principles 
of  those  who  have  been  called  liberals  must  always 

*  Blanco  White's  Practical  and  Internal  Evidence  against  Catho- 
licism, p.  7-12;  comp.  p.  129-134. 


294  REFORMATION   IN    SPAIN. 

excite  a  strong  and  well-grounded  prejudice  against 
their  schemes.  If  they  demand  a  reform  in  the  state, 
the  defenders  of  abuse  have  only  to  raise  against  them 
the  cry  of  impiety.  Bigots  and  hypocrites  are  fur- 
nished with  a  plausible  pretext  for  putting  them  down. 
And  good  men,  who  may  be  convinced  of  the  cor- 
ruptions which  adhere  to  both  church  and  state,  and 
might  be  willing  to  co-operate  in  removing  them,  are 
deterred  from  joining  in  the  attempt,  by  the  appre- 
hension that  it  may  lead  to  the  overthrow  of  all  reli- 
gion. It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  the  operation  of  all 
these  causes  in  defeating  the  struggles  for  liberty 
which  have  been  made  within  these  few  years  in 
Italy  and  the  Peninsula. 

But  may  we  not  cherish  better  hopes,  as  the  result 
of  those  events  which  have  recently  induced  the  more 
enlightened  portion  of  the  Spanish  nation  to  turn  their 
eyes  to  Britain  instead  of  France,  from  which  they 
formerly  looked  for  instruction  and  relief?  Let  us 
hope  that  those  individuals  who  have  taken  refuge 
in  this  country,  and  whose  conduct  has  shown  that 
they  are  not  unworthy  of  the  reception  they  have  met 
with,  will  profit  by  their  residence  among  us;  that 
any  of  them  who,  from  the  unpropitious  circumstances 
in  which  they  were  placed,  may  have  formed  an  un- 
favourable opinion  of  Christianity,  will  find  their  pre- 
judices dissipated  in  the  free  air  which  they  now 
breathe ;  that  what  is  excellent  in  our  religion,  as  well 
as  our  policy,  will  recommend  itself  to  their  esteem ; 
and  that,  when  Providence  shall  open  an  honourable 
way  for  their  returning  to  their  native  country,  they 
will  assist  in  securing  to  it  a  constitution,  founded  on 
the  basis  of  rational  liberty,  in  connexion  with  a  reli- 
gion purified  from  those  errors  and  corruptions  which 
have  wrought  so  much  woe  to  Spain — which  have 
dried  up  its  resources,  cramped  and  debased  its  ge- 
nius, lowered  its  native  dignity  of  character,  and  poi- 
soned the  fountains  of  its  domestic  and  social  happi- 
ness. 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 

DEDICATION    BY  FRANCISCO    DE   ENZINAS    OF   HIS   SPANISH   TRANSLATION    OF 
THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.* 

To  the  Puissant  Monarch  Charles  V.  ever  August 
Emperor,  King  of  Spain,  &c.  Francisco  de  Enzinas 
Avishes  Grace,  Health  and  Peace. 

Sacred  Majesty — Many  and  various  opinions  have 
been  broached  in  our  day,  as  to  the  expediency  of 
translating  the  Scriptures  into  the  vulgar  tongues ;  and 
how  opposite  soever  they  are  to  each  other,  they  argue 
equal  zeal  for  Christianity,  and  proceed  upon  reason- 
ings sufficiently  probable.  For  my  own  part,  without 
meaning  to  condemn  those  of  different  sentiments,  I 
have  espoused  the  side  of  them  who  conceive  that 
such  translations,  were  they  executed  by  learned  men 
of  mature  judgment  and  great  skill  in  the  several  lan- 
guages, would  mightily  advance  the  interest  of  the 
Christian  Republic,  by  affording  both  instruction  to 
the  illiterate,  and  comfort  to  the  well-informed,  who 
delight  to  hear  in  their  own  language  the  discourses 
of  Jesus  and  his  Apostles  concerning  those  mysteries 
of  our  redemption  from  which  our  souls  derive  salva- 
tion and  comfort.  But,  with  the  view  of  at  once  sat- 
isfying those  who  think  differently,  and  of  showing 
that  this  undertaking  is  neither  new  nor  dangerous,  I 
am  anxious  to  state  to  your  Majesty,  in  a  few  words, 
the  reasons  which  have  induced  me  to  commence  this 
work.  And  this  I  do  under  a  sense  of  the  duty  which 
I  owe  to  yom'  Majesty,  who  is  not  only  the  highest 

*  Translated  from  the  original,  printed  at  Antwerp  in  1543. 


296  APPENDIX. 

minister  of  God  in  temporal  things,  and  the  greatest 
monarch  in  Christendom,  bnt  also  my  king  and  lord, 
to  whom  I  am  bonnd,  as  a  vassal,  to  give  ciccount  of 
my  leisure  and  my  busy  hours;  and  who  is,  to  speak 
the  truth,  in  what  regards  religion,  a  diligent  overseer, 
and  zealous  for  the  honour  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
spiritual  interests  of  his  kingdom. 

There  are  three  reasons,  sacred  Majesty,  which  have 
induced  me  to  undertake  this  work. 

First,  in  reading  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  I  find, 
that,  when  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  were  exerting  all 
their  powers  against  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  which 
then  began  to  prosper,  and  when  they  were  unable  to 
impede  it  on  account  of  the  great  miracles  which  Peter 
and  the  other  Apostles  performed,  and  the  heavenly 
doctrines  which  they  taught,  they  laid  hold  of  St 
Peter  and  St.  John,  and  consulted  wliat  measures 
they  should  pursue  towards  them  and  this  new  reli- 
gion. After  various  opinions  had  been  given,  Gama- 
liel, the  teacher  of  St.  Paul,  and  the  most  honoured 
of  the  assembly,  arose.  He  told  them  that  they  ought 
to  be  cautious  in  this  affair,  as  it  was  one  of  great  im- 
portance; and  produced  several  examples  of  persons 
who  had  lately  formed  sects  and  taught  new  doctrines, 
but  had  in  a  short  time  perished  along  with  the  tenets 
they  inculcated.  After  some  discourse,  he  concluded 
in  this  manner:  In  fine,  my  opinion  is,  that  you  should 
let  these  men  alone  and  permit  them  to  do  as  they 
please;  for  if  this  doctrine  of  theirs  be  new,  or  of  the 
world,  or  the  invention  of  men  pleased  with  novelty, 
then  it  and  they  will  soon  perish.  But  if  it  be  from 
God,  be  assured  that  neither  you  nor  any  mortal  will 
be  able  to  stop  its  progress :  the  very  attempt  to  do 
this  Avould  be  a  fighting  against  God  and  the  determi- 
nation he  has  taken.  I  have  often,  sacred  Majesty, 
reflected  on  these  words,  when  reviewing  the  dispute 
which  has  now  lasted  for  twenty  years.  Certain  per- 
sons, influenced  by  good  motives,  have  frequently  op- 
posed with  great  perseverance  the  printing  of  such 
translations;  but  far  from  being  able  to  prevail,  they 
have  lost  ground  every  day,  and  new  versions  are 


APPENDIX.  297 

issuing  successively  from  the  press  in  all  the  kingdoms 
of  Christendom;  while  those  who  opposed  them  at 
first,  have  now  begun  to  keep  silence  on  the  subject, 
and  even  to  read  and  approve  of  them  not  a  little. 
In  all  this,  methinks,  I  see  the  saying  of  Gamaliel  ful- 
filled, and  that  this  is  an  undertaking,  which,  if  well 
executed,  will  serve  greatly  to  advance  the  glory  of 
God.  After  having  waited  many  years  for  the  end 
of  this  dispute,  I  see  that  it  has  at  length  arrived  at  a 
happy  termination,  and  that  God  has  most  certainly 
made  use  of  it  for  his  own  purposes.  This  considera- 
tion induces  me  to  try  what  I  can  do  in  the  matter, 
with  the  view  of  benefithig  my  countrymen  to  the 
utmost  of  my  power,  though  I  should  succeed  but  in 
part;  for  it  is  a  true  saying,  that  in  great  and  difficult 
achievements,  the  very  wish  and  attempt  are  worthy 
of  high  commendation. 

The  second  reason,  sacred  Majesty,  which  has  had 
weight  with  me,  is  the  honour  of  our  Spanish  nation, 
which  has  been  calumniated  and  ridiculed  by  other 
nations  on  this  head.  Although  their  opinions  differ 
in  many  points,  yet  all  of  them  agree  in  this,  that  we 
are  either  indolent,  or  scrupulous,  or  superstitious;  and 
from  this  charge  none  of  the  strangers  with  whom  I 
have  conversed  will  exculpate  us.  Although  the 
spiritual  advantage  of  our  neighbour  and  the  service 
of  God  are  no  doubt  the  considerations  which  ought 
to  influence  the  Christian,  yet,  as  long  as  we  live  in 
the  flesh,  and  walk  by  the  light  of  reason,  we  shall 
find  that  honour  will  often  lead  us  to  do  at  once  what 
no  arguments  could  induce  us  to  perform.  Now,  not 
to  speak  of  the  Greeks  and  the  other  ntltions  who 
were  made  acquainted  with  the  salvation  of  Jesus 
Christ  by  reading  the  Sacred  Scriptures  in  their  own 
language,  there  is  no  people,  as  far  as  I  know,  except 
the  Spaniards,  who  are  not  permitted  to  read  the  Bible 
in  their  native  tongue.  In  Italy  there  are  many  ver- 
sions, the  greater  part  of  which  has  issued  from  Na- 
ples, the  patrimony  of  your  Majesty.  In  France  they 
are  innumerable.  In  Flanders,  and  throughout  the 
whole  of  your  Majesty's  territories  in  that  quarter,  I 

20 


298  APPENDIX. 

have  myself  seen  many,  while  new  ones  are  publish- 
ing daily  in  its  principal  towns.  In  Germany,  they 
are  as  plentiful  as  water,  not  only  in  Protestant,  but 
also  in  Catholic  states.  The  same  may  be  said  of  all 
the  realms  of  the  illustrious  king  Don  Fernando,  your 
Majesty's  brother;  as  also  of  England  Scotland,  and 
Ireland.  Spain  stands  alone  as  if  she  were  the  ob- 
scure extremity  of  Europe.  For  what  reason  that 
privilege  has  been  denied  to  her  which  has  been  con- 
ceded to  every  other  country,  I  know  not.  Since  in 
every  thing  we  boast,  and  that  not  unjustly,  that  we  are 
the  foremost,  I  cannot  see  why  in  this  business,  which 
is  of  the  highest  moment,  we  should  be  the  last.  We 
labour  under  no  deficiency  in  genius,  or  judgment,  or 
learning;  and  our  language  is  in  my  opinion,  the  best 
of  the  vulgar  ones;  at  least  it  is  inferior  to  none  of 
them. 

The  third  reason  which  has  induced  me  to  under- 
take this  work  is,  that  were  it  injurious  in  itself,  or  did 
it  lead  to  bad  consequences,  I  am  convinced,  that 
among  all  the  laws  which  have  been  enacted  since 
the  appearance  of  these  sects,  one  would  have  issued 
from  your  Majesty  or  the  Pope,  forbidding,  under 
great  penalties,  the  composition  and  printing  of  such 
books.  As  this  has  not  been  done  to  my  knowledge, 
notwithstanding  the  many  laws  passed,  and  the  great 
diligence  (thank  God)  used  since  that  time,  I  am  per- 
suaded that  no  evil  can  attach  to  the  undertaking,  and 
that  it  is  in  perfect  consistency  with  the  laws  of  your 
Majesty,  and  of  the  supreme  pontiff.  Nor  do  I  want 
examples  to  countenance  me,  seeing  that  similar  works 
have  been^ublished  in  all  languages  and  nations.  It 
is  a  mark  of  little  prudence,  says  the  comic  poet, 
when  I  reckon  nothing  well  done,  except  that  which 
I  myself  do,  and  suppose  I  alone  hit  the  mark,  and 
every  other  person  errs.  So  it  happens  in  the  present 
case.  For,  not  to  speak  of  the  European  nations, 
whose  sentiments  on  this  subject  I  have  already 
shown,  if  we  consult  the  history  of  the  ancients,  we 
shall  find  that  all  of  them  held  the  same  opinion.  The 
Jews,  though  they  were  an  illiterate  and  hardened 


APPENDIX.  299 

race,  as  Christ  remarks,  had  their  law  delivered  to 
them  in  their  own  language,  difficult  as  it  was  to  be 
understood  on  account  of  the  types  of  the  Messiah 
which  it  contained.  After  their  return  from  Babylon, 
as  they  were  better  acquainted  with  the  Syriac  than 
the  Hebrew,  they  made  use  of  the  Chaldee  para- 
phrases, which  they  called  the  Targums.  The  Chris- 
tians, succeeding  them,  possessed  the  Scriptures  in 
Greek,  which,  at  that  period,  was  the  common  lan- 
guage of  the  East.  The  other  nations  translated  them 
into  their  own  tongues,  viz.  Egyptian,  Arabian,  Per- 
sian, Ethiopian,  and  Latin;  and  in  these  languages 
also  they  had  their  Psalmody,  as  St.  Jerome  affirms  in 
his  epitaph  upon  Paula.  This  father  likewise  trans- 
lated the  Bible  into  Hungarian,  for  the  benefit  of  his 
own  countrymen.  The  Latins  henceforth  employed 
the  Latin  version — a  custom  which  remained  in  their 
church  for  more  than  six  hundred  years,  till  the  time 
of  the  Emperors  Phocas  and  Heraclius,  and  Pope 
Gregory  the  Great.  The  practice  of  reading  the  Holy 
Scriptures  in  a  language  which  all  could  understand, 
was  abandoned,  not  from  a  conviction  of  its  being 
wrong,  but  because  at  the  irruption  of  foreign  nations 
into  Europe  the  Latin  tongue  ceased  to  be  spoken 
among  the  common  people,  while  the  church  con- 
tinued to  employ  it  as  formerly,  and  has  continued  to 
do  so  to  the  present  day.  This,  however,  is  the  case 
only  in  these  parts  of  Europe.  In  Greece,  the  mo- 
dern Christians  preserve  the  old  practice;  as  also  in 
Africa,  Egypt,  Ethiopia,  Syria,  Palestine,  Persia,  the 
East  Indies,  and  throughout  all  the  world.  It  would 
appear,  then,  that  I  am  not  singular  in  my  sentiments 
on  this  subject;  that  this  undertaking  is  not  novel; 
and  that  that  cannot  be  an  evil  which  has  existed  for 
such  a  length  of  time  in  the  Church  of  God,  which 
so  many  nations  have  approved  of,  and  which  the 
Catholic  Church  esteems  to  be  good.  If  any  one  should 
be  inclined  to  think  it  injurious  on  account  of  the  dan- 
ger there  is  at  present  of  heresy,  let  such  a  one  know 
that  heresies  do  not  arise  from  the  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures in  the  vulgar  tongues,  but  from  their  being  ill 


300  APPENDIX. 

understood,  and  explained  contrary  to  the  interpreta- 
tion and  doctrine  of  the  Church,  which  is  the  pillar  and 
foundation  of  truth,  and  from  their  being  treated  of 
by  evil-disposed  men,  who  pervert  them  to  suit  their 
own  wicked  opinions.  The  same  thing  was  remarked 
by  St.  Peter  concerning  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  which 
heretics  in  that  age,  as  well  as  this,  were  in  the  prac- 
tice of  abusing  in  order  to  confirm  their  false  tents. 

These  reasons,  sacred  Majesty,  have  induced  me  to 
undertake  this  work.  Not  to  say  that  it  is  a  most  just 
and  holy  cause,  it  is  certainly  worthy  of  your  Majesty's 
royal  dignity,  worthy  of  your  knowledge,  Avorthy  of 
your  judgment,  worthy  of  your  aprobation,  and  wor- 
thy of  your  protection.  And  since  I  am  well  assured, 
with  Solomon,  that  the  hearts  of  good  princes  are 
governed  by  God,  I  trust  in  Heaven  that  your  Ma- 
jesty will  take  this  my  work  in  good  part ;  that  you 
will  encourage  and  defend  it  by  your  authority ;  and 
that  you  will  employ  all  means  to  procure  it  a  favour- 
able reception  by  others.  This  ought  to  be  done  the 
more  on  this  account,  that  the  good  which  may  be 
expected  to  result  from  it  throughout  the  kingdom,  is 
neither  wealth,  nor  honour,  nor  worldly  advantages, 
but  spiritual  blessings,  and  the  glory  of  Christ  Jesus. 
May  he  prosper  your  Majesty  in  the  journey  and  en- 
terprise you  have  undertaken,  and  in  all  others  of  a 
like  nature;  and  after  you  have  reigned  long  upon 
the  earth,  may  he  receive  you  to  reign  with  himself 
in  heaven.     Amen. 

From  Antwerp,  1  October,  1543. 


No.  II. 

EXTRACTS  FROM  A  PREFACE    BY  JUAN  PEREZ    TO  HIS  SPANISH  TRANSLATION 
OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.* 

Two  reasons  have  induced  me  to  undertake  the 
important  task  of  translating  the   New   Testament, 

*  Translated  from  the  original  Spanish,  as  given  by  Riederer,  Nach- 
nchten  zur  Kirchen-Gelehrten  und  Bucher-Geschiciitc,  vol.  ii.  p.  147- 
149.  Altdorf,  1765.  ^ 


APPENDIX.  301 

from  the  language  in  which  it  was  originally  com- 
posed, into  our  common  and  native  Romance  lan- 
guage. The  one  is,  that  when  I  found  myself  lying 
under  great  obligations  to  my  countrymen  on  account 
of  the  vocation  which  the  Lord  had  given  me  to 
preach  the  gospel,  I  could  discover  no  method  by 
which  I  could  better  fulfil,  if  not  wholly,  at  least  in 
part,  my  desire  and  obligation,  than  by  bestowing  on 
them  a  faithful  version  of  the  New  Testament  in  their 
own  language.  In  this  respect  I  have  obeyed  the  will 
of  the  Lord,  and  followed  the  example  of  his  holy 
Apostles.  *  *  *  The  holy  Apostles,  instructed 
in  the  will  and  intention  of  their  master,  with  the  view 
of  discharging  their  ministry,  and  publishing  more 
extensively  that  which  was  committed  to  their  care, 
did  not  write  in  Hebrew,  which  was  then  understood 
only  by  a  few  persons  already  skilled  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  nor  yet  in  the  Syriac  and  Latin  tongues. 
Nearly  all  of  them  wrote  the  gospel  in  Greek,  as  it 
was  then  employed  and  understood  not  only  in  Greece, 
but  also  among  the  Jews  and  Romans,  and  generally 
by  all  those  who  inhabited  Asia  and  such  parts  of 
Europe  as  were  subject  to  the  Roman  empire;  for 
neither  the  Latin  nor  any  other  language  was  at  that 
time  so  generally  known  or  so  common  as  the  Greek. 
*  *  *  The  other  reason  to  which  I  referred  as 
urging  me  to  the  present  undertaking,  is  the  advance- 
ment of  my  nation's  glory,  famed  as  it  has  always 
been  in  every  quarter  for  its  bravery  and  victories, 
and  inclined  to  boast  that  it  is  freer  than  all  other 
nations  from  those  errors  which  have  arisen  in  the 
world  against  the  Christian  religion.  To  overcome 
others  is  a  thing  which  is  esteemed  glorious  and  desi- 
rable among  men;-  but  to  overcome  one's  self  is  much 
more  glorious  and  honourable  in  the  sight  of  God ;  for 
to  subdue  our  domestic  enemies  is  the  way  to  subject 
ourselves  entirely  to  his  government,  and  the  victory 
obtained  over  them  is  the  more  illustrious  and  the  more 
to  be  desired,  as  an  intestine  war  is  of  all  others  the 
most  dangerous,  and  as  the  reward  here  held  out  to 
the  conquerors  is  the  most  precious  and  the  most  last- 


302  APPENDIX. 

ing.  That  which  accomplishes  this  greatest  of  all 
victories  is  the  reading  and  understanding  of  the  con- 
tents of  this  sacred  volume.  In  order  that  it  may  be 
understood  and  improved,  I  have  translated  it  into  the 
Romance.  It  is  certainly  honourable  and  glorious 
that  we  should  be  exempt  from  errors  and  all  their 
consequences.  Every  one  in  the  nation  ought  to  la- 
bour as  much  as  in  him  lies  that  this  glory  may  accrue 
to  us.  For  my  part  I  have  endeavoured  to  provide  a 
defence  by  which  our  country  may  always  be  pro- 
tected from  evil  and  from  the  entrance  of  error,  by  pro- 
viding it  with  the  New  Testament,  wherein  is  a  sum- 
mary of  all  the  laws  and  advices  we  have  received 
from  heaven ;  so  that  we  may  not  only  be  enabled  to 
detect  infallibly  every  error,  but  also  to  avoid  it  with 
certainty.  It  is  impossible  that  our  glory  can  be  last- 
ing and  permanent,  unless  we  call  in  the  aid  of  this 
volume,  by  habitually  reading  its  statutes  and  medita- 
ting on  its  counsels. 


No.  III. 


EXTRACTS   FROM    THE  CONFESSION  OF  A  SINNER,  BY  CONSTANTINE  PONCE  DE 
LA  FUENTE,  CHAPLAIN  TO  THE  EMPEROR  CHARLES  V.* 

0  thou  Son  of  God,  whom  the  eternal  Father  hath 
sent  to  be  the  Saviour  of  men,  that  thou  mightest  offer 
th^^self  a  sacrifice  as  a  satisfaction  for  sin,  I  would 
present  myself  before  the  throne  of  thy  mercy,  be- 
seeching thee  to  listen  while  I  speak,  not  of  my  own 
righteousness  and  merits,  but  of  the  transgressions 
and  grievous  errors  which  I  have  committed  against 
men,  and  more  especially  against  the  majesty,  the 
goodness,  and  the  compassion  of  thy  Father.  Draw  me 
forcibly  by  a  discovery  of  that  everlasting  punishment 
with  which  my  sins  inwardly  menace  me.  But  0  thy 
compassion  draws  me  by  a  very  different  cord;  making 

*  Translated  from  a  French  version  in  liistoire  des  Martyrs,  p. 
503-506.    Anno  1597. 


APPENDIX.  303 

me  to  know,  though  not  so  quickly  as  I  ought,  all  that 
thou  hast  been  to  me,  and  all  that  I  have  been  to  thee. 
I  present  myself  before  thy  sacred  majesty,  accused 
and  condemed  by  my  own  conscience,  and  constrained 
by  its  torture  to  speak  out  and  confess,  in  the  presence 
of  earth  and  heaven,  before  men  and  angels,  and  in 
the  audience  of  thy  sovereign  and  divine  justice,  that 
I  deserve  to  be  banished  for  ever  from  the  kingdom 
of  heaven,  and  to  live  in  perpetual  misery  under  the 
chains  and  tyranny  of  Satan.  0  my  Lord  and  Sa- 
viour, my  cause  would  be  lost,  I  would  be  utterly 
undone,  wert  not  thou  a  judge  to  deliver  from  con- 
demnation those  whom  their  sins  have  handed  over 
to  eternal  death.  *  *  *  *  Blessed  and  praised  for 
ever  be  thy  name  by  all  those  who  know  thee,  be- 
cause thou  camest  into  this  world  not  to  condemn  but 
to  save  sinners;  because  being  thyself  just,  thou  hast 
become  the  advocate  of  the  guilty,  even  of  thine  ene- 
mies and  accusers,  and  hast  been  afflicted  and  tempt- 
ed in  all  things,  in  order  to  give  us  a  surer  proof  of 
thy  compassion.  Thou  art  holiness  for  the  polluted, 
satisfaction  for  the  guilty,  payment  for  the  insolvent, 
knowledge  for  the  erring,  and  a  surety  for  him  that 
has  no  help.  What  I  know  of  thee,  0  my  Saviour, 
draws  me  unto  thee,  and  I  have  begun  to  know  thee 
in  a  manner  which  makes  me  see  that  I  am  a  wretch 
unworthy  to  approach  thy  presence. 

How  shall  I  begin,  0  Lord,  to  render  an  account  of 
my  transgressions?  What  direction  shall  I  take,  the 
better  to  discover  the  error  of  my  ways?  Lord,  give 
me  eyes  to  look  upon  myself,  and  strengthen  me  to 
bear  that  look;  for  my  sins  are  so  great  that  I  am 
ashamed  to  recognize  them  as  mine,  and  try  to  reme- 
dy them  by  other  sins — belying  and  disowning  myself, 
if  by  any  means  I  may  find  in  me  something  not  so 
exceedingly  culpable.  In  all  this.  Lord,  I  mark  the 
greatness  of  thy  compassion;  for  when  I  shut  my  own 
eyes  lest  I  be  confounded  at  the  sight  of  my  sins, 
thou  openest  thine,  that  thou  mayst  observe  and  watch 
over  me.  Thou  hast  put  it  beyond  doubt,  0  Redeem- 
er of  the  world,  that  thou  examinest  wounds  with 


304  APPENDIX. 

the  intention  of  healing  them,  and  that  how  disgust- 
ing soever  they  may  be,  they  are  not  an  eyesore  to 
thee,  nor  art  thou  ashamed  to  cleanse  them  with  thine 
own  hand.  Guide  me,  Lord,  and  lead  me  along  with 
thee ;  for  if  I  walk  alone,  I  shall  wander  from  the 
right  path.  Thy  company  shall  strengthen  me  to 
bear  the  presence  of  myself.  Sustain  me,  that  I  may 
not  lose  courage.  Hold  me  firmly,  that  I  may  not 
fly  from  myself  Command  the  devil  to  be  silent  when 
thou  speakest  with  me. 

There  was  a  time.  Lord,  when  I  was  nothing; 
thou  gavest  me  existence  and  formedst  me  in  my 
mother's  womb.  There  thou  didst  impress  on  me  thy 
image  and  resemblance,  and  gave  me  the  capacity  of 
enjoying  thy  blessings.  There  is  nothing  in  me  so 
minute  or  so  delicate  but  what  was  conducted  by  thy 
wisdom  and  singular  design  to  its  full  perfection.  I 
entered  the  world  by  a  great  miracle  and  under  the 
power  of  thy  hand.  I  was  nursed  and  invigorated 
by  thy  providence.  I  was  naked  and  thou  clothedst 
me,  weak  and  thou  strengthenedst  me ;  in  short  thou 
hast  made  me  to  feel  that  I  live  by  leaning  on  thy  mer- 
cy which  will  never  fail  me.  Before  that  I  knew  myself 
to  be  miserable,  I  was  undone ;  I  contracted  sin  even 
in  coming  out  of  my  wother's  womb;  this  was  my 
inheritance  in  being  of  the  line  of  Adam.  Behold  the 
fortune  which  I  heir  from  my  father;  it  is  to  know 
myself  miserable  and  sinful.  Notwithstanding  this, 
thy  compassion  has  embraced  me,  thou  hast  helped 
me  in  my  poverty,  and  delivered  me  from  my  evils. 
Thou  hast  enriched  and  adorned  me,  thou  hast  di- 
vorced me  from  my  own  heart  on  which  I  leaned  for 
support,  and  hast  washed  me  as  with  pure  water  in 
thy  precious  blood.  Thou  hast  intrusted  me  with 
those  favours  which  I  most  needed,  which  made  me 
thine,  which  delivered  me  from  mine  enemy,  and  gave 
me  an  assured  pledge  of  eternal  liappiness.  If  thy 
wisdom  had  not  imposed  silence,  if  I  had  not  confided 
in  thee,  seeing  my  true  nature  and  condition,  what 
could  I  have  said  but,  in  the  words  of  Job,  "  Would 
that  they  had  carried  me  from  tlie  womb  to  the  grave, 


APPENDIX.  305 

for  surely  that  life  which  ought  to  prove  a  blessing  is 
only  for  my  evil  and  for  my  transgression,  and  it 
were  better  that  I  had  never  been!"  Yet  would  I  not 
be  the  judge  of  thy  glory,  seeing  I  have  so  little  ad- 
vanced it,  nor  of  thy  will,  seeing  it  is  the  right  rule  of 
all  justice.  I  am  thy  servant.  Lord,  and  thine  have  I 
been  as  often  as  I  have  ceased  from  sinning.  Thou 
hast  preserved  my  privileges,  though  I  myself  took  no 
charge  of  them.  My  innocence  endured  only  so  long 
as  I  had  not  eyes  to  look  with  delight  on  vanity  and 
malice.  I  may  say  that  when  asleep  I  was  thine,  but 
no  sooner  did  I  awaken  to  the  knowledge  of  thee  than 
I  discovered  my  aversion  to  look  upon  thee  ;  and  the 
greater  my  obligations  were  to  follow  thee,  the  faster 
did  I  fly  from  thy  presence.  I  was  in  love  with  my 
own  ruin  and  gave  it  full  rein;  and  in  this  manner 
did  I  allow  it  to  dissipate  thy  benefits.  I  joined  my- 
self to  thine  enemies,  as  if  my  happiness  consisted  in 
being  traitor  to  thee.  I  closed  my  eyes,  I  shut  up  all 
my  senses  that  I  might  not  perceive  that  I  was  in  thy 
house,  that  thou  wast  the  Lord  of  the  heavens  whose 
rain  descends  upon  me,  and  of  the  earth  which  sustains 
me  in  life.  I  was  a  sacrilegious  person,  a  despiser 
of  thy  bounty,  ungrateful,  a  contemner  of  thy  mercy, 
an  audacious  man,  fearing  not  thy  justice.  Never- 
theless I  slept  as  soundly  as  if  I  were  one  of  thy  ser- 
vants, and  appropriated  every  thing  to  myself  without 
considering  that  it  came  from  thee.     *     *     *     -^ 

Such  has  been  the  pride  of  man,  that  he  aimed  at 
being  God ;  but  so  great  was  thy  compassion  towards 
him  in  his  ifallen  state,  that  thou  abasedst  thyself  to 
become  not  only  of  the  rank  of  men,  biU  a  true  man, 
and  the  least  of  men,  taking  upon  thee  the  form  of  a 
servant,  that  thou  mightest  set  me  at  liberty,  and  that 
by  means  of  thy  grace,  wisdom,  and  righteousness, 
man  might  obtain  more  than  he  had  lost  by  his  igno- 
rance and  pride.  He  had  thrown  himself  into  the 
power  of  the  devil,  to  be  formed  into  his  image  and 
remain  his  prisoner,  banished  from  thy  presence,  con- 
demned in  thy  indignation,  the  slave  of  him  who  had 
seduced  him,  and  whose  counsel  he  chose  to  follow 


306  APPENDIX. 

in  contempt  of  the  justice  and  majesty  of  the  Father. 
But  so  completely  hast  thou  retrieved  what  man  had 
lost,  that  I  may  justly  say,  "  Man  is  true  God,''  since 
God  is  true  man,  since  believers  have  the  privilege  of 
being  made  partakers  of  the  divine  nature,  since  they 
are  all  thy  brethren,  and  since  the  Father  joins  with 
thee  in  calling  them  to  imitate  thee,  that  they  may 
grow  daily  in  thy  likeness,  and  execute  thy  will,  and 
that  thus  each  of  them  may  be  in  truth  denominated 
a  son  of  God,  and  born  of  God.  0  the  misery  of  those 
who  would  seek  for  happiness  in  any  other  than  thee, 
seeing  that  thy  compassion  can  give  them  more  than 
even  their  own  presumption  could  demand!  Thou 
knowest.  Lord,  the  return  I  have  made  for  thy  bene- 
fits, and  whether  or  not  I  have  merited  them.  Would 
that  I  knew  this  as  well !  that  flying  far  from  myself,  I 
might  come  nearer  unto  thee;  for,  to  complete  my 
misery,  all  that  I  know  and  feel  of  my  heinous  sins, 
forms  the  least  part  of  them.  It  is  many  years,  Lord, 
since  thou  becamest  man  for  me,  and  didst  abase  thy- 
self to  such  a  depth  that  I  might  be  raised  thus  high. 
Having  once  presumed  to  equal  myself  v/ith  God,  I 
forsook  the  path  in  which  thou  wouldst  have  me  to 
walk,  and  took  that  which  led  to  my  destruction,  lis- 
tening to  the  voice  of  thine  enemy,  and  avowedly 
taking  up  arms  against  thee.  What  was  this  but  my 
arrogant  heart  seeking  to  govern  me  by  its  own  wis- 
dom, to  set  me  at  large  in  my  own  ways,  and  to  settle 
down  in  the  pleasure  and  satisfaction  of  its  own  obsti- 
nate disobedience  ?  I  was  a  worm  in  comparison 
with  others,  and  all  plainly  perceived  my  littleness 
and  insignificance ;  but  as  for  me,  my  discourses  were 
my  gods;  so  far  had  I  forgotten  what  thou  wast,  and 
how  low  thou  didst  condescend  for  my  sake.  Thou 
hast  abased  thyself  in  order  to  become  man — a  new 
man,  of  the  same  line  with  Adam,  and  yet  without 
the  sin  of  Adam ;  for  such  a  nature  was  suited  at  once 
to  thy  greatness  and  to  the  work  of  our  justification. 
Thou  didst  take  upon  thee  human  flesh,  and  wast 
born  of  a  virgin-mother,  that  thou  mightest  be  every 
way  fitted  to  our  condition,  and  that  thou  mightest 


APPENDIX.  307 

be  entirely  such  a  one  as  it  behoved  him  to  be  who 
is  at  once  God  and  man.  Thou  hast  called  us  to  be 
new  creatures,  that  by  the  privilege  of  our  union  with 
thee  we  might  throw  off  the  depravity  which  we 
had  inherited  from  our  father,  and  in  thee  receive  new 
life  and  strength,  that  as  we  have  borne  the  image  of 
the  old  and  sinful  man,  so  we  may  recover  the  resem- 
blance of  the  new  and  innocent  man.  As  for  me, 
enamoured  of  my  old  nature,  and  satisfied  with  my 
former  lusts,  as  if  I  did  well  in  pursuing  them,  I  deem- 
ed it  sufficient  to  believe  that  thou  wast  innocent ;  I 
was  desirous  of  remaining  guihy,  not  considering  that 
by  this  conduct  I  both  ruined  my  own  soul,  and  egre- 
giously  outraged  thy  goodness  by  rejecting  and  for- 
saking thee,  even  when  thou  wast  come  to  seek  and 
to  save  me.     ^     *     *     * 

But  notwithstanding  all  this,  thy  mercy  is  so  pow- 
erful that  it  draws  me  unto  thee ;  for  if  thy  hatred 
against  sin  has  been  manifested  in  divers  ways,  much 
more  have  the  workings  of  thy  mercy  appeared  in 
the  salvation  of  men.  To  punish  sinners  thou  hadst 
•only  to  issue  a  command;  but.  Lord,  to  save  them 
from  destruction,  thou  hadst  to  lay  down  thy  life;  this 
cost  thee  thine  own  blood  shed  upon  the  cross,  even 
by  the  hands  of  those  for  whom  thou  didst  ofler  it. 
In  executing  justice,  thou  hast  acted  as  God ;  but  to 
display  thy  marvellous  mercy  thou  hast  become  man, 
assuming  our  infirmities,  enduring  disgrace  and  death, 
that  we  may  be  assured  of  the  pardon  of  our  sins. 
Lord,  since  it  pleases  thee  that  I  should  not  perish,  I 
come  unto  thee  like  the  prodigal  son,  desiring  to  share 
that  kind  treatment  which  all  who  dwell  in  thy  house 
receive,  having  found  to  my  bitter  experience  that  all 
those  for  whom  I  forsook  thee  are  mine  enemies. 
Although  the  recollection  of  my  sins  accuses  me  bitter- 
ly, and  I  am  sorely  amazed  at  the  sight  of  thy  throne, 
yet  I  cannot  but  assure  myself  that  thou  wilt  pardon 
and  bless  me,  and  that  thou  wilt  not  banish  me  for 
ever  from  thy  presence.  Lord,  hast  not  thou  said  and 
sworn,  that  thou  hast  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the 
sinner,  and  that  thou  delightest  not  in  the  destruction 


308  APPENDIX. 

of  men?  Hast  not  thou  said,  that  thou  art  not  come 
to  call  the  righteous  but  sinners  to  repentance,  not  to 
cure  the  whole  but  them  that  are  sick?  Wast  not 
thou  chastised  for  the  iniquity  of  others?  Has  not 
thy  blood  sufficient  virtue  to  wash  out  the  sins  of  all 
the  human  race  ?  Are  not  thy  treasures  more  able  to 
enrich  me,  than  all  the  debt  of  Adam  to  impoverish 
me?  Lord,  although  I  had  been  the  only  person  alive, 
or  the  only  sinner  in  the  world,  thou  wouldst  not  have 
failed  to  die  for  me.  0  my  Saviour,  I  would  say,  and 
say  it  with  truth,  that  I,  individually,  stand  in  need  of 
those  blessings  which  thou  hast  given  to  all.  What 
though  the  guilt  of  all  had  been  mine,  thy  death  is  all 
mine.  Even  though  I  had  committed  all  the  sins  of 
all,  yet  would  I  continue  to  trust  in  thee,  and  to  assure 
myself  that  thy  sacrifice  and  pardon  is  all  mine,  though 
it  belong  to  all.  Lord,  thou  wilt  show  this  day  who 
thou  art.  Here  is  a  work  by  which  thou  mayest  glo- 
rify thyself  before  the  Father  and  before  the  host  of 
heaven,  even  more  than  by  the  work  of  creation. 
Since  thou  art  a  physician,  and  such  a  physician,  here 
are  wounds  which  none  but  thyself  is  able  to  heal, 
inflicted  on  me  by  thy  enemies  and  mine.  Since  thou 
art  the  health,  and  the  life,  and  the  salvation,  sent 
from  our  Father  in  heaven,  look  upon  my  desperate 
maladies  which  no  earthly  physician  can  cure.  Since 
thou  art  a  Saviour,  here  is  a  ruin,  by  the  repairing  of 
which,  thou  wilt  cause  both  enemies  and  friends  to 
acknowledge  thy  hand  and  power.     ***** 

Formerly,  I  was  amazed  at  the  wickedness  of  those 
that  crucified  thee.  So  blind  was  I,  that  I  did  not 
perceive  myself  among  the  foremost  of  that  band. 
Had  I  attended  to  the  treacheries  of  my  heart  and  the 
scandals  of  my  wicked  works,  in  contempt  of  thy  judg- 
ment, commandments,  and  mercy,  I  must  have  recog- 
nized myself  Yes ;  I  held  in  my  hands  the  crown  of 
thorns  for  thy  head,  the  nails  to  affix  thee  to  the  cross, 
the  gall  and  vinegar  to  give  thee  to  drink.  The  in- 
difference with  which  I  treated  thy  sufterings  for  me 
was  all  these.  To  have  gone  further  would  have  been 
to  put  myself  beyond  the  reach  of  the  remedy.     But 


APPENDIX.  309 

the  horror  of  thy  punishment,  and  the  anger  of  the 
Father  agamst  those  who  despise  thee,  impose  silence 
on  me,  and  force  me  to  confess,  that  truly  thou  art  the 
Son  of  God.  It  is  enough  that  I  am  the  robher  and 
malefactor  sought  out  by  thee.  It  is  time  to  cry  for 
a  cure.  Lord,  remember  me  now  that  thou  art  come 
to  thy  kingdom.  Having  nothing  to  allege  for  my 
justification  but  an  acknowledgment  that  I  am  un- 
righteous, destitute  of  every  thing  to  move  thy  com- 
passion but  the  greatness  of  my  misery,  unable  to  urge 
any  other  reason  why  thou  shouldst  cure  me,  but  that 
my  case  is  hopeless  from  every  other  hand,  for  my 
part  I  have  no  other  sacrifice  than  my  afflicted  spirit 
and  broken  heart ;  and  this  I  would  not  yet  have  had, 
if  thou  hadst  not  awakened  me  to  the  knowledge  of 
my  danger.  The  sacrifice  which  I  need  is  that  of  thy 
blood  and  righteousness.  *  *  *  Abide  with  me 
for  my  preservation;  for  the  flesh  grumbles  and  resists, 
the  devil  will  redouble  his  assaults  the  nearer  I  ap- 
proach thee,  and  the  world  is  full  of  gins  and  snares 
to  entrap  me.  But  such  art  thou,  Lord,  and  so  care- 
fully dost  thou  watch  over  my  salvation,  that  I  am 
assured  thou  wilt  never  forsake  me,  and  that  thou 
wilt  so  guard  and  secure  me,  that  I  shall  not  be  per- 
mitted to  ruin  myself. 


No.  IV. 

LETTER  FROM  FRANCISCO  FARIAS  AND  NICOLAS  MOLINO  TO  GRINDAL,  BISHOP 

OF  LONDON.* 

Most  humane  and  illustrious  Bishop — the  request 
which  we  have  now  humbly  to  present  to  you  is,  that 
you  would  give  us  your  advice  upon  an  aff"air  of  im- 
portance, as  our  father  and  faithful  pastor.  We  un- 
derstand, and  have  ascertained  upon  the  best  grounds, 
that  a  person  inimical  to  the  gospel,  who  for  certain 

*  Translated  from  the  Latin,  in  Strype's  Life  of  Grindal.  Appen- 
dix, B.  i.  No.  xiii. 


310  APPENDIX. 

reasons  had  fled  from  Spain,  has,  with  the  view  of 
regaining  the  favour  of  the  Spanish  monarch,  fahri- 
cated  a  calumnious  story,  and  has  been  communicating 
with  the  ambassador  from  Spain,  and  the  governess 
of  Flanders.  The  object  of  this  calumny  is,  that  we 
two,  Spaniards,  who  have  been  these  eight  years  exiles 
in  this  country  for  the  word  of  God,  should  be  deliv- 
ered up  and  carried  back  to  Spain.  Their  plan  is  as 
follows;  that  the  king  of  Spain  shall  be  advertised  to 
require  the  Spanish  Inquisitors  to  draw  informations 
against  us  of  heinous  crimes,  to  which  they  should 
add  another  information  against  a  Spaniard  of  infa- 
mous character,  who  has  fled  from  Flanders  for  rob- 
bery and  other  crimes,  and  is  now  living  here;  that 
along  with  these  advices.  King  Philip  shall  write  to 
the  queen,  requesting  these  criminals  to  be  delivered 
up  to  his  ambassador,  with  the  view  of  their  being 
sent  to  Spain;  and  that  the  name  of  the  notorious 
malefactor  from  Flanders  shall  be  placed  first  in  the 
list,  that  so  no  one  may  doubt  that  we  are  chargeable 
with  as  great  or  even  greater  crimes. 

As  to  the  informations  which  may  be  brought  hith- 
er, Ave  call  God  to  witness,  for  whose  name  we  sufl'er 
exile,  that  nothing  can  be  laid  to  our  charge  which, 
if  true,  does  not  entitle  us  to  praise  rather  than  blame. 
But  knowing  that,  on  account  of  our  religion,  we 
have  incurred  the  great  odium  of  the  Spanish  Inqui- 
sition, and  that,  from  the  time  we  left  Spain  till  the 
present  time,  it  had  expended  above  six  thousand 
crowns  in  attempts  to  discover  us  and  our  fellow- 
exiles,  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  inquisitors  will  find 
as  many  false  witnesses  as  they  please,  and  thus  be 
able  to  fix  upon  us  whatever  crimes  they  wish.  Now, 
supposing  that  such  informations  should  be  presented 
to  her  Majesty  the  Queen,  along  with  letters  from 
King  Philip,  desiring  that  Ave  should  be  delivered  up, 
we  desire  to  know  whether  or  not  we  shall  be  ex- 
posed to  danger.  If  we  should,  it  is  our  intention  to 
remove  to  some  other  country  where  such  a  calumny 
will  not  be  listened  to.  On  tliis  account,  most  pious 
Bishop,  we  request  your  advice  as  speedily  as  possi- 


APPENDIX.  311 

ble,  in  order  that  we  may  provide  for  our  safety  in 
time ;  for  Judas  will  not  sleep  till  he  has  betrayed  us, 
and  perhaps  the  informations  are  already  upon  the 
road.  Besides,  one  of  our  wives  is  pregnant,  and 
will  not  be  able  to  bear  the  fatigues  of  the  journey, 
if  it  be  delayed  much  longer.  You  will  see  then  that 
delay  may  be  the  means  of  our  being  delivered  up, 
and  taken  to  a  place  where  we  shall  suffer  the  most 
inhuman  tortures.  If  Providence  has  assigned  this 
lot  to  us,  we  will  adore  him,  and  pray  that  he  would 
confirm  us  in  his  faith,  and  so  strengthen  us  as  that  we 
may  be  enabled,  for  the  glory  of  his  name,  to  remain 
firm  to  the  end. 


No.  V. 

SPECIMENS  OF  EARLY  SPANISH  TRANSLATIONS  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

The  fragment  of  the  Translation  of  the  Bible  by 
Bonifacio  Ferrer,  printed  in  1478,  but  composed  about 
the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  is  extremely 
curious,  as  indicating  the  state  of  the  Spanish  lan- 
guage at  that  early  period.  As  a  specimen  of  it  I 
shall  give  the  last  chapter  of  the  book  of  Revelation, 
as  reprinted  in  the  Biblioteca  Espanola  of  Rodriguez 
de  Castro.  To  this  I  add,  for  the  purpose  of  compa- 
rison, the  same  chapter  in  the  version  of  the  New 
Testament  by  Francisco  de  Enzinas,  taken  from  the 
original  work,  printed  in  1543. 

Ferrer's  Version.  Enzinas'^s  Version. 

Mostra  a  mi  vn  riu  de  ay-  Y   el  me  amostro   vn  rio 

gua  villa  resplandentaxi  com  limpio  de  agua  viua,  resplan- 

crestall  prooeint  de  la  seilla  des^iente  como  Christal,  que 

de  due  [e]  del  anyell.     En  salia  de  la  silla  de  Dios  y  del 


312 


APPENDIX. 


Ferrer's  Version. 

lo  mig  de  la  plaza  de  ella:  e 
de  la  una  parte  e  altra  del 
riu  lo  fust  de  vida  por  tant 
dolze   fruyts:    per    cascuns 
mesos  reten  s5  fruyt:  e  les 
fulles  del  fust  a  sanitat  de  les 
gets.     E  res  maleyt  no  sera 
pus :  e  la  seilla  de  deu  e  del 
anyel  seran  en  aquella :  e  los 
seruents  de  ell  suiran  a  aquell : 
e  veuran  la  fa^  de  ell :    e  lo 
nom  de  ell  scrit  en  los  fronts 
de  ells.     E  nit  pus  no  sera: 
e  no  hauran  fretura  de  lum  de 
candela  ne  d'lum  de  sol:  car 
lo  senyor  deu  illuminara  aqlls: 
e  regnaran  en  los  setgles  dels 
setgles.   E  dix  a  mi :  aquestes 
paules  fidelissimes  son  e  ver- 
daderes.     E   lo   senyor  deu 
dels  spirits  dels  prophetes  ha 
Irames  lo  angel  seu  mostrar 
als  seruets  sens  les  coses :  que 
c5ue  tost  esser  fetes.    E  veus 
que  vinch  iua^osament.  Ben- 
auenturat  es  lo  qui  guarda  les 
paules  de  lu  [_sic]  pphecia  d' 
aquest  libre. 

E  yo  ioan  qui  oi  e  viu 
aquestes  coses.  E  puix  que 
les  hagui  oides  e  vistes  :  cay- 
gui  perqueado  res  dauant  los 
peus  del  angel:  qui  mostraua 
a  mi  aquestes  coses.  E  dix 
a  mi :  guarda  nou  faces.  Se- 
ruent  so  ensemps  ab  tue  e  ab 
los  frares  leus  prophetes:  e 
ab  aquells  qui  seruen  les  pa- 
raules  de  la  propliecia  de 
aquest  libre.  A  deu  adora. 
E  dix  a  mi:  no  sagelles  les 


Enzinas^s  Version. 

Cordero.     En  el  medio  de  la 
pla^a   della.     Y    de   la    vna 
parte  y  de  la  otra  del  rio  el 
arbor  de  la  vida,  que  trai  doze 
frulos,    dando  cada   mes    su 
fruto:   y  las  hojas  del  arbor 
son  para  la  sanidad   de  los 
gentiles.     Y   toda  cosa  mal- 
dita,  no  sera  mas.     Pero  el 
throno  de  Dios  y  el  Cordero 
estara  en  ella,  y  sus  sieruos 
le  seruiran,  y  veran  su  rostro, 
y  su   nombre  estara  en  sus 
frentes.     Y  la  noche  no  esta 
mas  alii,  y  no  tienen  ne^essi- 
dad  de  lumbre  de  candela,  ni 
de  la  lumbre  del  Sol.     Por 
que  el  Senor  dios  los  alum- 
bra,  y  reinaran  para  siempre 
jamas.     Y  me  dixo :  Estas 
palabras  son  fieles  y  verdade- 
ras.     Y  el  Senor  Dios  de  los 
sanctos  prophetas  ha  embiado 
su  angel,  para  mostrar  a  sus 
sieruos  las  cosas  que  es  ne- 
^essario  que  sean  hechas  bien 
presto.     Y  veis  aqui  que  yo 
vengo  presto.    Bienauentura- 
do  es  aquel   que  guarda  las 
palabras  de  la  prophe^ia  de 
este  libro.     Y   yo  lohan  soi 
aquel  que  ha  oydo,  y  vislo 
estas  cosas.     Y  despues  que 
yo  vbe  oydo  y  visto:  yo  me 
eche  para  adorar  delante  de 
los  pies  del   Angel  que   me 
moslraba  estas  cosas.     Y  el 
me  dixo  :  Mira  que  tu  no  lo 
hagas :   por  que  yo  soi  con- 
sieruo   luyo,   y   de   tus   her- 
manos  los  prophetas,  y  de  los 


APPENDIX. 


313 


Ferrer's  Version. 

paraiiles  de  la  prophecia  de 
aquest  libre.  Car  lo  temps 
es  prop.  Qui  nou  noga  en 
cara:  e  qui  en  les  sulzures 
es  en  sutzeeixca  en  cara:  e 
qui  iustes  sia  iustificat  en 
cara  e  lo  sant  sia  santificat 
en  cara.  Ueus  que  vinch  tots: 
e  lo  guardo  meu  es  ab  mi: 
retrea  cascu  seo^ons  les  obres 
sues  yo  so  alpha  e  o:  primer 
e  darrer:  principie  fi.  Ben- 
auenturals  son  los  que  lauen 
les  stoles  sues  en  la  sanch  del 
anyell.  per  que  sia  la  potes- 
tat  de  ells  en  lo  fust  de  vida: 
e  per  porles  entren  en  la  ciu- 
tat.  De  foralos  cans  a  j'ents 
veri  e  los  luxuriosos  los  ho- 
micides e  los  seruint  a  les 
idoles :  e  tot  aquell  qui  ama 
e  fa  mentira.  yo  iesus  be  tra- 
mes  \_sic]  lo  angel  meu  a  tes- 
tificar  aquestes  coses  a  uosal- 
tres  en  les  esglesies.  yo  so 
rael  e  linatge  de  dauid :  stela 
resplandent  e  matutina.  E 
lo  spos  e  la  sposa  di  en :  vine. 
E  lo  qui  ou:  diga  vine.  E 
qui  ha  set  vinga.  E  qui  vol 
prenda  de  gratayguade  vida. 
Car  fa^  teslimonia  tot  oint  les 
paraules  de  la  prophecia  de 
aquest  libre.  Si  algu  haura 
aiustat  aquestes :  aiustara  deu 
sobre  aqll  les  plagues  que  son 
scrites  en  aquest  libre:  e  si 
alffu  haura  diminuit  de  les 
paraules  de  la  prophecia  de 
aquest  libre:  tolra  deu  la  part 
de  ell  del  libre  de  vida  e  de 


Enzinas''s  Version. 

que  guardan  las  palabras  de 
este  libro.  Adora  a  Dios.  Y 
me  dixo :  No  senales  las  pa- 
labras de  la  prophecia  de  este 
libro,  por  que  el  tiepo  esta 
^erca.  El  que  es  injusto,  sea 
injusto  mas:  El  queessu9io, 
ensu9iese  mas.  Y  el  que  es 
justo,  sea  justificado  mas.  Y 
el  sancto  sea  sanctificado  mas. 

Y  veis  aqui,  yo  bengo  presto. 

Y  mi  galardon  esta  comigo, 
para  dar  a  cada  vno,  como 
sera  su  obra.  Yo  soi,  Alpha 
y  O,  el  primero  y  el  postrero, 
el  prin^ipio  y  el  fin. 

Bien  auenturados  son  los 
que  hazen  sus  mandamientos, 
para  que  su  potencia  sea  en 
el  arbor  de  la  vida,  y  que  en- 
tren por  las  puertas  en  la  ^ib- 
dad.  Pero  los  perros  seran 
de  fuera,  y  los  hechizeros, 
las  rameras  y  los  homi^idas, 
jdolatras,  y  cada  vno  que  ama, 
y  haze  mentira.  Yo  Iesus 
he  eijibiado  mi  Angel,  para 
daros  testimonio  de  estas 
cosas  en  las  yglesias.  Yo  soi 
la  raiz  y  el  genero  de  Dauid, 
la  eslrella  resplandes9iente  y 
de  la  manana:  Y  el  espirito 
y  la  esposa  dizen:  Ben.  Y 
el  q  lo  oy,  diga :  Ben.  Y  el 
que  liene  sed:  benga.  Y  el 
que  quiere,  tome  del  agua  de 
la  vida  debalde. 

Pues  yo  protesto  a  cada 
vno  que  oy  las  palabras  de  la 
prophe9ia  de  este  libro:  si 
alguno  anadiere  a  estas  cosas, 


21 


314 


APPENDIX. 


Ferrer's  Version. 

la  ciutat  sancta :  e  de  aquestes 
coses  que  son  scrites  en  aquest 
libre.  Diu  ho  lo  qui  testi- 
moniadona  de  aquestes  coses. 
Encara  Uinch  tots :  amen. 
Uine  senyor  iesus.  La  gra- 
cia  del  senyor  nostre  ieusu- 
crist  sia  ab  tots  vosaltres 
Amen. 


Unzinas^s  Version. 

pondra  Dios  sobre  el  las  pla- 
gas  escritas  en  este  libro.  Y 
si  alguna  disminuyere  de  las 
palabras  del  libro  de  estapro- 
phe9ia,  Dios  quitara  su  parte 
del  libro  de  la  vida,  y  de  la 
santa  9ibdad,  y  de  las  cosas 
que  esta  escritas  en  este  libro. 
El  que  da  testimonio  de  estas 
cosas,  dize:  Cierto,  yo  ben- 
go  en  breve.  Ame.  Tanbien. 
Ven  senor  Iesus.  La  gra9ia 
de  nuestro  Senor  lesu  Christo 
sea  con  todos  vosotros.  Amen. 


THE  END. 


